Characterization of iron, copper and zinc levels in the colostrum of mothers of term and pre-term infants before and after pasteurization

Abstract

Pasteurization is a thermal treatment applied to the milk used in human milk banks so as to provoke the thermic inactivation of pathogenic micro-organisms, with the aim of avoiding contamination of milk that will be offered to new-born infants in clinical conditions very often demanding special care. The literature has very little data available relating to the effect of pasteurization on the concentration of oligo-elements in human milk. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of pasteurization on the concentrations of iron (Fe), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) in the colostrum of mothers of pre-term (PT) and term (T) infants. Samples were collected from the day of birth to the seventh day after birth. The oligo-elements were analyzed using the total reflection Xray fluorescence technique with synchrotron radiation. The following results of Fe, Cu and Zn (means9/SD) were obtained for the PT and T colostrum samples, non-pasteurized and pasteurized, respectively:

Improved growth of preterm infants receiving mother’s own raw milk compared with pasteurized donor milk

“…Growth factors and hormones are also higher in preterm milk. Water‐soluble vitamins, as well as iron and zink bioavailability, have been reported to be reduced by pasteurization (20,29).…”

Effects of pasteurisation and high-pressure processing on vitamin C, tocopherols and fatty acids in mature human milk

“…The most commonly used pasteurisation method in human milk banks is low-temperature long-time (LTLT) pasteurisation, also known as Holder pasteurisation, in which the milk is heated at 62.5°C in a water bath for 30 min (Updegrove, 2005). However, this thermal treatment can degrade key biochemical components, such as IgA, IgM, IgG, lactoferrin, some oligoelements and several vitamins (Da Costa et al, 2003;Evans, Ryley, Neale, Dodge, & Lewarne, 1978;Koenig, de Albuquerque Diniz, Correia Barbosa, & Costa Vaz, 2005;Romeu-Nadal, Castellote, Gayà, & López-Sabater, 2008; Van Zoeren-Grobben, Schrijver, Van den Berg, & B. H., 1987). It may also cause a decrease in the antioxidant capacity of milk, and completely inactivate the enzyme lipase (Henderson, Fay, & Hamosh, 1998;Silvestre et al, 2008).…”

Revisión sistemática de los cambios químicos producidos en la composición de la leche humana luego de la pasteurización Holder

“…Solo un estudio analizó la variación pospasteurización de hierro y cobre, resultando significativa la reducción para ambos minerales, con una reducción del 12%-14% y del 4%-9%, respectivamente (46). Para el caso del cinc, dos estudios analizaron su variación, encontrando la diferencia estadísticamente significativa en un caso (46) y en otro caso no significativa (55).…”