Iodine deficiency disturbs the metabolic profile and elemental composition of human breast milk.

Human breast milk (HBM) has a beneficial impact on health programming, growth and neurodevelopment of newborns.Increase in iodine intake is recommended for pregnant women in order to produce enough thyroid hormones to meet foetal requirements.In this work, a combined analytical multiplatform based on gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled toquadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometryhas been appliedinthe first metabolomic study of HBM ofiodine-deficientwomen. In addition, the elemental composition of HBM has been determined by inductively coupled plasma triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. Remarkably,31 metaboliteswith important biological roles(e.g. glycerophospholipids for neurodevelopment)were seentobe alteredin the HBM of iodine-deficient women. The main metabolic pathwaysalteredinclude lipid metabolism, amino acid cycle, the tricarboxylic acid cycle and glycolysis.Additionally, the concentration of selenium, zinc and copperwere seento be significantlylowerin HBM of iodine-deficient women.