Nutritive value of human milk and nutritional status of wives of army personnel of low income from Rawalpindi.

The nutritional status and proximate composition, fatty acid profile and mineral composition of milk from 26 wives of army personnel of low income group from Rawalpindi was investigated. The body mass index ranged from 13.5 to 23.7, hemoglobin from 8.6 to 14.8 G/dl, serum protein from 4.8 to 7.5 G and serum albumin from 3.3 to 4.8 G%. Milk protein content varied from 0.6 to 2.4%, fat from 1.0 to 3.7% [corrected]. Palmitic acid was the major fatty acid in milk whose concentration ranged from 34.4 to 47.1% [corrected] and the linoleic acid from 6.9-15.4% [corrected]. The calcium content of milk varied from 7.9-87.1 mg%, iron from traces to 0.44 mg% and zinc from 0.02-1.28 mg%.