<Date:    Tue, 18 Jan 2005 19:18:44 EST

From:    [log in to unmask]

Subject: "Solar pasteurization"

 

Bacteria and viruses thrive in the human body at 98.6F/37 C.  Why would
heating in the sun "pasteurize" anything?

 

Nancy

Nancy E. Wight MD, IBCLC, FABM, FAAP

Neonatologist, Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women and Children's Hospital
Medical Director, Sharp HealthCare Lactation Services San Diego, CA
[log in to unmask]>

 

Nancy,

 

From what I understand from helping my son with his research, as water heats
in a solar cooker, temperatures of 56 C and above start killing
disease-causing microbes.  Heating water to 66 C will kill all
disease-causing microbes.  Some heat resistant spores can remain but
according to the research these spores do not cause disease in humans but
they can cause milk to spoil so pasteurized milk must be kept refrigerated.
Milk can be pasteurized at 71.7 C (161 F) for only 15 seconds or at 62.8 C
(145 F) for 30 minutes.  I didn't check HMBANA to see if these are their
guidelines as well.  Not having to heat water to 100 C is a very important
consideration in the third world where there may be little or no resources
for boiling water.  Even though the water is not free of all impurities it
is safe to drink.  They estimate that 2 million children die of diarrheal
diseases resulting from contaminated water each year and another 900 million
episodes of illness occur.  Even if the sun's energy is not used to heat the
water, it requires far less other fuel sources to heat water to
pasteurization temperatures.  

 

Linda Anderegg, RNC, IBCLC, RLC in Chicago, where it has warmed up enough to
be snowing and blowing tonight


             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html