Optimizing Nutrient Preservation: The Science of Homogenizing Human Milk

by Kely Correa

Human milk has a balanced composition and is considered the first source of nutrition for newborn infants. Its components include antibodies, digestive enzymes, beneficial microorganisms and hormones. However, studies show that the composition of human milk may undergo variations due to intrinsic and extrinsic factors.

Premature infants hospitalized in neonatal intensive care units, often unable to feed directly from the mother's breast, rely on expressed and pasteurized human milk. This milk is offered through feeding tubes administered by gavage or by pump, which leads to the loss of some nutrients, mainly fat. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the influence of the homogenization unit operation on the constituents of human milk during six months of storage and to analyze the nutritional effect of homogenized milk on the lipid profile and caloric gain in vivo.

This study compared the cost/benefit of six types of homogenization equipment (ultraturrax, mixer processor, orbital shaker, high-pressure homogenizer, ultrasonic bath and probe ultrasound) used to evaluate the reduction of fat retention in food. The performance criteria adopted for the evaluation of human milk homogenizers to continue the studies were the formation of fat globules with the smallest average diameter, the lowest percentage of fat retention in the feeding tubes and the lowest cost for implantation. The Mixer processor and the Ultrasound probe equipment reduced fat retention by 99.23 ± 0.07% and 99.95 ± 0.02%, respectively.

Furthermore, they did not change the profiles of the main proteins and main fatty acids in human milk. The mixer processor was the device selected to be added to the human milk processing line due to its high efficiency, simplicity of operation and low acquisition and processing cost. Therefore, the homogenization step in the human milk processing line can be considered a safe and promising approach to reduce the change in human milk composition after flowing through feeding tubes.

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Article Details
Influence of Homogenization in the Physicochemical Quality of Human Milk and Fat Retention in Gastric Tubes
Kely De Paula Correa, Monique Ellen Torres Da Silva, Davi Rocha Bernardes De Oliveira, André Fernando De Oliveira, Igor Jose Boggione Santos, Eduardo Basílio De Oliveira, Jane Sélia Dos Reis Coimbra
First Published July 26, 2023 Research Article
DOI: 10.1177/08903344211031456
Journal of Human Lactation

About the Author

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Brazilian Kely Correa is a professor/researcher at the Candido Tostes Dairy Institute - Empresa Agropecuária de Minas Gerais. Graduated from the Federal Institute of Science and Technology of Southeast Minas Campus Rio Pomba. She received her master's and doctorate from the UFV in the postgraduate program at the Federal University of Viçosa in the area of Food Science and Technology with an emphasis on the line of research on the processing of milked human milk. Currently, she works with human milk research and milk production quality.
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