Human Milk Oligosaccharides Are Associated with Lactation Stage and Lewis Phenotype in a Chinese Population.

The concentration of HMOs changes throughout lactation, and it varies between different HMOs. HMO concentrations differed between lactation stage, maternal secretor gene status, Lewis blood type, volume of breast milk expressed, and the province the mother came from. Prematurity, mode of delivery, parity, infants' gender, and maternal characteristics did not affect the HMO concentration. Geographical region may be not associated with HMOs concentration in human milk. There may be a mechanism for co-regulation of the secretion of some of the oligosaccharides such as 2'FL vs. 3FL, 2'FL vs. LNnT, and lacto-N-tetraose (LNT).