Christine

There's been some work done on the immunological 
and vitamin content of home-pasteurized human 
milk in the context of BF and HIV.  Here is an 
abstract of a 2008 paper:  Israel-Ballard KA et 
al. Vitamin content of breast milk from 
HIV-1–infected mothers before and after 
flash-heat treatment. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 48: 444–449, 2008.

Background: World Health Organization advocates heat treatment
of expressed breastmilk (EBM) as one method to reduce postnatal
transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in developing
countries. Flash-heat is a simple heat treatment method shown to
inactivate cell-free HIV.
Objective: To determine the effect of flash-heat on vitamin content
of milk.
Methods: Fresh EBM was collected from 50 HIV+ mothers in
Durban, South Africa. Mothers washed their hands and then manually
expressed 75–150 mL EBM into sterile jars. Milk was aliquoted to
unheated controls or flash-heat (50 mL EBM in a glass jar heated in
a 450-mL water jacket in an aluminum pan until water boiled, then
EBM removed) simulating field conditions with an open flame. Samples
were stored at 270C and then analyzed for the effect of flashheat
on vitamins [A, ascorbic acid, riboflavin (B2), pyridoxal-5-phosphate
(B6), folate, and B12].
Results: Vitamin A was not significantly affected by flash-heat and
vitamins B12 and C and folate increased significantly. Vitamins B2
and B6 were decreased to 59% (95% confidence interval 44 to 81) and
96% (95% confidence interval 92 to 99), respectively, of that found in
unheated milk.
Conclusions: The percentage remaining after flash-heat suggests
that most vitamin concentrations are retained after heating. Flash-heat
may be a practical and nutritious infant feeding method for mothers in
developing countries.
------------------------------------------------

Hope this helps.  Much of the immunological 
components remain intact too.  And I seem to 
remember something about the lactoferrin 
remaining largely unchanged, but would have to hunt for that ....!

Pamela Morrison IBCLC
Rustington, England
------------------------------------------------------
Date:    Tue, 2 Mar 2010 10:04:30 -0600
From:    Christine Bussman <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: milk sharing, pasteurization, and risk

The various threads related to this topic recently have me wondering,
how much study has actually been done on the health effects of
pasteurized breast milk?  If we take direct breastfeeding of the
mother's own milk as the standard, then what are the risks of mother's
milk in a bottle?  Even more so, what are the risks of pasteurized milk
in that bottle, considering that pasteurization kills all the enzymes
and all the live immune components.

My own (unconsidered) opinion has been that pasteurized breast milk is
basically the very best 'formula'.  It has a perfect balance of
nutrients that makers of formula are always striving for (if we give
them the benefit of the doubt), but not much else.  I'm wondering if the
scientific studies agree with this, or if there are perhaps some immune
components that are not killed off by pasteurization.

Also, does anyone know if all milk banks pasteurize the milk?

Christine Bussman, LLLL




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