Osteopontin Levels in Human Milk vary Across Countries and within Lactation Period: Data from a Multicenter Study

Objectives: Osteopontin (OPN) is a multifunctional protein expressed in many cell types, tissues and body fluids with the highest concentrations found in milk; significantly higher in human than in bovine milk. Intervention studies have indicated beneficial effects of supplementing infant formula with bovine OPN. In this multicenter study, we determined the OPN content in human milk samples from 629 Chinese, Danish, Japanese and Korean mothers. Methods: At each study site, milk samples were collected and analyzed for OPN and protein concentration using ELISA and infrared spectroscopy, respectively. Results: A total of 829 milk samples from 629 women were included. When delivering the first sample, mean maternal age was 31.4 years (SD 4.0), and median infant age was 13.4 weeks (IQR 4.6-17.9). The median OPN concentration varied across sites; from 99.7 mg/L in Danish, 182.5 mg/L in Japanese, 216.2 mg/L in Korean to 266.2 mg/L in Chinese mothers (p 

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