The effect of Storage conditions on nutritional quality of donor human milk in milk bank practice

Abstract

Background: The main function of milk banks is to serve as repositories of donated milk so it is available when needed. The concentrations of macronutrients in human milk can be influenced by various processes, such as storage and freezing. The objective of present study was to assess, understand changes in major nutrients, role of antioxidant and free radical generation after milk bank storage.

Method: In this study the human milk samples were collected and analyzed for protein, lactose, fat and antioxidant as vitamin C and marker of free radical MDA. The breast was cleaned with sterile water before expression and by using automatic electric double pumping (medelalactina) 20 ml of milk sample collected in sterile container. The sample were divided in to three aliquotes, first analyzed immediately as fresh and the second refrigerated at 4⁰C and third frozen at -20⁰C.

Results: There was no significant change in protein and lactose content in breast milk. The values of fat and ascorbic acid significantly decreased at room temperature and 4⁰C in day 2 and day 4 respectively but not at -20⁰C. End product of lipid peroxidation MDA significantly increased at room temperature and 4⁰C but there was no change at -20⁰C.

Conclusion: There were no notable changes observed in all the nutritional contents studied even after four days of storage at -20 degrees Celsius. As a conclusion, the nutritional content of expressed milk is safe while kept at -20 degrees Celsius.