Properties Of Transient Milk From Mothers Of Preterm Infants Which Can Influence Microbiota Of Infants

Abstract

Transient milk from mothers of preterm infants is the most abundant milk used in banks of human milk given the capacity of preterm infants to directly consume it and the amount of milk produced. Milk banks collect, pasteurize, and freeze/store human milk. The processing might alter properties of milk which can influence microbiota of infants, but the effects have not been fully examined. Compared with colostrum and mature milk of mothers of preterm infants transient milk has lower ORP value indicating better total antioxidant capacity (TAC) than colostrum or mature milk. Main component of TAC in transient milk is vitamin C. Ascorbic acid in human milk reverts oxidation reactions because of its affinity to prevent the initiation of lipid oxidation by neutralization of singlet oxygen, or by regenerating the tocopheroxyl radical that can be produced during the lipid oxidation cascade to its native form. Milk was obtained from twenty mothers of preterm infants (gestational age 28-36 weeks; birth weight 900-2.470 g). Milk samples were obtained from 4th day postpartum to two weeks (transient). The mothers were asked to express milk between 8:00 and 10:00 AM. The main effect of transient milk processing is decrease of vitamin C and increase of urate. Our results indicate that whey of transient milk of mothers of preterm infants may be the safest fraction for preservation and very suitable for addition of fortifiers to achieve optimal effect on microbiota in preterm infant nutrition.