A common practice in neonatal intensive care units is to fortify human milk for very low birth weight premature infants who have high dietary protein and energy demands. Unfortunately, this current method does not involve measurement of premature human milk which leads to insufficient fortification because premature milks vary tremendously in protein levels. We have evaluated the accuracy and precision of a mid-infrared Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) widely used in the dairy industry but calibrated for human milk to measure milk protein, fat and lactose against traditional biochemical methods in one hundred and fifteen term and preterm milk samples analyzed in replicate. The data suggest acceptable limits of agreement for protein levels milk. The intra-assay variation for protein was 2.5%. Thus, mid-IR FTIR commonly used in the dairy industry has immense value for accurately enriching human milk to meet the phenotypic demands of each infant.

Evaluation of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy: Characterizing the macronutrient components of human milk

245th National Meeting (2013)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.