Efeito do processamento do leite humano sobre os níveis de retinol The effect of processing on the Vitamin A content of human milk

OBJETIVOS: Analisar o efeito do processamento sobre os níveis de retinol no leite humano ordenhado, bem como avaliar se o mesmo supre o requerimento nutricional de vitamina A do lactente. MÉTODOS: Foram coletadas 60 amostras de leite humano ordenhado no Banco de Leite Humano da Maternidade Escola Januário Cicco e divididas em duas alíquotas de 5 ml cada, sendo uma não processada termicamente, enquanto a outra foi submetida à pasteurização. As amostras foram analisadas por cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência. Para a análise estatística, foi utilizado o teste t de Student, sendo a diferença entre as médias considerada significativa quando p OBJECTIVES: To analyze the effect of processing on the Vitamin A levels of milk that is donated to the Human Milk Bank at the University Maternity Hospital, and to evaluate whether this milk supplies the infants' Vitamin A requirement. METHODS: Sixty milk samples from the Human Milk Bank were divided into two equal portions. One milk portion was extracted prior to processing, while another fraction was subjected to pasteurization and later extracted. The samples were analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography. Analysis with Student's t test indicated that the difference between mean retinol levels was statistically significant at the p < 0.05 level. RESULTS: The retinol content found in the milk prior to processing was 55.4&plusmn;34.0 µg/100 ml, whereas for the processed milk this level was 36.6&plusmn;26.1 µg/100 ml (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: It was found that retinol loss occurs during milk processing and that the milk from the Human Milk Bank does not meet infants' Vitamin A requirement