Correlação entre população de microrganismos mesófilos aeróbios e acidez Dornic no leite humano ordenhado The correlation between aerobic mesophilic microorganism counts and Dornic acidity in expressed human breastmilk

OBJETIVO: O estudo foi delineado para testar a existência de correlação entre a população total de microrganismos aeróbios mesófilos e os valores de acidez Dornic no leite humano ordenhado cru processado em banco de leite humano. MÉTODOS: Foram analisadas 200 amostras consecutivas de leite humano ordenhado, em banco de leite humano, antes da pasteurização. A acidez Dornic foi titulada nas amostras em triplicata. A seguir, foi realizada a contagem em placa para microrganismos aeróbios mesófilos. Os dados foram avaliados pela correlação de Pearson entre as variáveis, e o nível de significância foi estabelecido em p OBJECTIVE: The study was designed to test for the existence of a correlation between the total population of aerobic mesophilic microorganisms in processed raw breastmilk from a human milk bank and the Dornic acidity of that milk. METHODS: Two hundred consecutive samples of thawed expressed human breastmilk obtained from human milk bank, prior to pasteurization. Dornic acidity was titrated in triplicate for each sample. aerobic mesophilic microorganisms were then plate counted. Data were analyzed to detect correlations between variables, using Pearson's coefficient, and the level of significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: In the samples analyzed, Dornic acidity levels had a positive (R = 0.948) and statistically significant (p < 0.001) correlation with the population of aerobic mesophilic microorganisms (CFU/mL). CONCLUSIONS: The data obtained here support to the conclusion that Dornic titration is an effective method for the indirect evaluation of bacterial growth in expressed human milk