FATTY ACID PROFILE OF NON-CONFORMING POOLED HUMAN MILK AS AFFECTED BY THE PROCESSING AND STORAGE CONDITIONS

The fatty acid's contents of non-conform pooled human milk can be affected by different processing and storage operational conditions. Besides, the knowledge of changes in the human milk fatty acid profile can help indicate its use in a given storage period, according to each newborn's specific need. Thus, in the present work, changes in the fatty acid profiles of three types of human milk (raw; pasteurized at 62.5 °C for 30 min; homogenized at 40 oC for 30 s followed by pasteurization) were studied during storage for six months in a freezer at -18 oC. Large variations were observed in the concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids, particularly of docosahexaenoic acid, with a reduction of almost 50% of its total. Palmitic and stearic acid contents also changed according to the conditions of processing and storage. Correlations between the decrease of long fatty acid chains and the increase of medium and short chains were verified. Thus, we observe that operational conditions of processing and storing change human milk lipid profile, with some nutritional losses.