Prolonged Unconjugated Hyperbilirubinemia Associated With Breast Milk and Mutations of the Bilirubin Uridine Diphosphate- Glucuronosyltransferase Gene

Abstract

The results indicate that defects of UGT1A1 are an underlying cause of the prolonged unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia associated with breast milk. One or more components in the milk may trigger the jaundice in infants who have such mutations. The mutations we found were identical to those detected in patients with Gilbert's syndrome, a risk factor of neonatal nonphysiologic hyperbilirubinemia and a genetic factor in fasting hyperbilirubinemia.