A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF MANGANESE IN HUMAN MILK

Abstract

Flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometry was applied to the analysis of Mn in human milk samples. Breast-feeding mothers (27) donated 229 individual milk samples between the 2nd wk and the 9th mo. of lactation. The milk samples were representative of every feed in a period of 24 h, foremilk and hindmilk in equal proportions. The median concentration of Mn declined from the initial value of 5.9 .mu.g/l before the 2nd mo. of lactation, remained at this level up to the 5th-6th mo. of lactation and showed a tendency to rise thereafter. The values presented here are lower than most reported earlier. It is questionable whether the Mn concentration is exceptionally low in Finnish human milk or whether the great difference from most earlier studies reflect problems of contamination or technical difficulties when less sensitive analytical methods have been used.