(560) Mechanisms of Childhood Obesity: Programmed Hyperphagia and Increased Milk Caloric Content

In all mothers, milk fat and calorie content significantly increased from first to last milk sample. Mothers with OW/OB had significantly higher milk fat and calorie content in first, middle and last sample as compared to normal BMI women (Table: ^*P < 0.05, OW/OB vs normal; ^#middle, last vs first P< 0.01). The infants of OW/OB mothers consumed significantly more milk per feed (94±13 vs 65±7 ml; 18±2 vs 12±1 ml/kg body weight, p< 0.05).

Conclusion: Infants of OW/OB mothers have a compound risk of childhood obesity. Programmed hyperphagia contributes to increase milk intake at each feed while OW/OB mothers produce high fat, high calorie breast milk. We propose that novel approaches to reduce breast milk caloric content coupled with “responsive feeding” may prevent excessive infant weight gain and childhood OW/OB.