Effects of pasteurization and high-pressure processing on the fatty acids, triacylglycerol profile, Dornic acidity, and macronutrients in mature human milk

The effects of high-pressure processing (HPP; 300, 400, 500 and 600 MPa for 5 min) compared to Holder pasteurization treatments on the macronutrients, acidity in Dornic, total coliforms, fatty acids (FA) composition, and the triacylglycerols (TAG) profile of mature human milk (HM) were evaluated. The results showed that both processes eliminated the microorganisms present, and the concentration of macronutrients and Dornic acidity did not show significant differences in processes. A total of 34 FAs were identified by gas chromatography with flame ionization detector, with palmitic and oleic acids having the highest concentrations. Regarding the TAG profile determined by direct infusion by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, TAG PLO (P: palmitic acid; L: linoleic acid; and O: oleic acid) was the one with the highest estimated concentration (6.52-7.27%). The evaluation of hierarchical clustering analysis results suggests that processing with lower pressures was more beneficial for HM due to the similarity between the intensities of the TAGs identified in each sample and the control HM sample. Besides, the results obtained on the evaluated components suggested that HPP could be a promising alternative to HoP applied in human milk banks since it maintained the characteristics of HM and is faster than HoP.