[The effect of processing on the Vitamin A content of human milk].

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+/-34.0 microg/100 ml, whereas for the processed milk this level was 36.6+/-26.1 microg/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.