The role of maternal colostrum to infant development has been extensively studied and presented. Among the main factors which contribute to breast milk composition are maternal diet, age and body mass index, parity, duration of pregnancy and stage of lactation. This study aims to investigate the potential impact of several factors including demographic (i.e. maternal age and nationality) on the colostrum fatty acid profile. Colostrum was collected the third day postpartum in a Greek maternity hospital. Certain lipid quality indices and fatty acid ratios were estimated and results were statistically processed. The main identified fatty acids were palmitic (C16:0), oleic (C18:1ω-9), and linoleic (C18:2ω-6) acids. Among fatty acids, saturated fatty acids predominated (47.61%), followed by monounsaturated fatty acids (39.26%), while polyunsaturated fatty acids had the lowest proportion (13.13%). Values of lipid quality indices were within the reported in the literature ranges. Maternal body mass index, nationality, age, mode of delivery, gender and fetal weight percentile were studied in respect to their potential influence on the fatty acid profile of colostrum fat. Results suggest that colostrum fatty acid profile was mainly dependent on maternal nationality and age rather than mode of delivery and maternal BMI. Regarding the effect of maternal nationality, significant differences were found for saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids. Of the most interesting findings is that colostrum fat from older (≥35 years) mothers had less saturated fat and more appropriate LQIs values. Finally, a reversed correlation was observed between the customized centile of the infants and the colostrum fat content.

Pomegranate juices from the fruits of the two relatively new Greek cultivars “Persephone” and “Porphiroyeneti” were studied compared to the “Wonderful” cultivar.

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The antiradical and antioxidant properties of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) extracts from the arils, juice, and seeds were examined and compared for classical and ultrasound-assisted Downloaded by [New York University] at 03:14 16 May 20152 extraction. The total phenolic concentration, 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl, 2, 2-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical scavenging, and ferric reducing antioxidant power assays were compared. High correlations were found between total phenolic concentration and antiradical activities. Juice extracts exhibited the highest total phenolic concentrations and antiradical activity compared to seed and aril extracts. However, juice extracts provided the lowest antioxidant capacities because phenolics present in juice may scavenge free radicals rather than reduce Fe(III). Arils were similar due to their high juice content. Only seed extracts exhibited statistically significant higher scavenging and antioxidant activities with the use of ultrasound-assisted extraction that may be attributed to the antioxidant character of the phenolics to scavenge free radicals. The total phenolic concentrations in aril and juice extracts by ultrasound-assisted extraction were similar to results obtained by classical extraction. The resultsshow that pomegranate juice and seeds have high nutritional value.