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There is a high prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes in the United States, particularly among Hispanic women, which may be partly explained by failure to lose gestational weight during the postpartum period. Previous work indicates that protein and amino acids may protect against weight gain; therefore, this study examined the impact of dietary protein and amino acid intake on changes in postpartum weight and the percent of women meeting the Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) for these dietary variables among Hispanic women from the Southern California Mother's Milk Study ( n  = 99). Multivariable linear regression analysis was used to examine the associations between protein and amino acid intake with change in weight after adjusting for maternal age, height, and energy intake. Women's weight increased from prepregnancy to 1-month and 6-months postpartum (71.1 ± 14.6 vs. 73.1 ± 13.1 vs. 74.5 ± 14.6 kg, p  < .0001). Although dietary protein was not associated with weight change ( β  = -1.09; p  = .13), phenylalanine ( β  = -1.46; p  = .04), tryptophan ( β  = -1.71; p  = .009), valine ( β  = -1.34; p  = .04), isoleucine ( β  = -1.26; p  = .045), and cysteine ( β  = -1.52; p  = .02) intake were inversely associated with weight change. Additionally, fewer women met the EAR values for cysteine (11.1%), phenylalanine (60.6%), and methionine (69.7%), whereas most women met the EAR values for tryptophan (92.9%), valine (96.0%), and isoleucine (94.9%). Study results indicate that several essential and conditionally essential amino acids were associated with postpartum weight loss, with a significant portion of women not meeting recommended intake levels for some of these amino acids. These results highlight the importance of postpartum maternal diet as a potential modifiable risk factor., Competing Interests: MIG receives book royalties from Penguin/Avery and is a scientific consultant for YUMI foods., (© 2021 The Authors. Food Science & Nutrition published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) at 1 month predicted infant weight gain at 6 months and whether associations varied by HMO secretor status., Methods: Participants were 157 Hispanic mother-infant pairs. Human milk samples were collected at 1 month. Nineteen individual HMOs were analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography, and secretor status was determined by the presence of 2'-fucosyllactose or lacto-N-fucopentaose (LNFP) I. Infant weight was measured at 1 and 6 months. Path analysis was used to test effects of HMO composition on infant weight gain, adjusting for maternal age, prepregnancy BMI, and infant age, sex, and birth weight., Results: In the total sample, higher LNFPII predicted lower infant weight gain (g 1  = -4.1, P = 0.004); this was observed in both nonsecretor (g 1  = -3.0, P = 0.006) and secretor groups (g 1  = -4.7, P = 0.014). In the nonsecretor group, higher lacto-N-neotetraose (g 1  = 7.6, P = 0.011) and disialyllacto-N-tetraose (g 1  = 14.3, P = 0.002) predicted higher infant weight gain. There were no other associations in the secretor group., Conclusions: Our data suggest that higher LNFPII in human milk may decrease obesity risk across all infants, whereas higher lacto-N-neotetraose and disialyllacto-N-tetraose may increase obesity risk in infants of nonsecretors only., (© 2020 The Obesity Society.)