Fat loss in thawed breast milk: comparison between refrigerator and warm water.

OBJECTIVE To compare the fat loss between refrigerator and warm water thawed breast milk. DESIGN Experimental. SETTING Tertiary-care pediatric university hospital. PARTICIPANTS Ninety samples of expressed breast milk were collected from mothers with singleton babies of a gestational age 32-42 weeks. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Fat content in fresh breast milk (FM); thawed breast milk by refrigeration (RM); and thawed breast milk by warm water (WM). RESULTS The mean (SD) total fat content in FM, RM and WM were 2.98 (0.97), 2.76 (0.99) and 2.66 (0.88) g/100 mL, respectively. The mean difference (SD) of the total fat in FM declined significantly after the frozen milk was thawed by refrigeration or warm water at -0.22 (0.50) g/100 mL (P=0.0001) and -0.32 (0.45) g/100 mL (P<0.0001), respectively. The mean (SD) total fat loss of frozen breast milk thawed by refrigeration was less than thawing in warm water at 0.094 (0.38) g/100 mL (P=0.02). CONCLUSION The fat loss of thawed breast milk by refrigeration was significantly less than placing it in warm water.