Impact of holder, high temperature short time and high hydrostatic pressure pasteurization methods on protein structure and aggregation in a human milk protein concentrate

Mélanie Sergius-Ronot; Michael A Pitino; Shyam Suwal; Sara Shama; Sharon Unger; Deborah L O'Connor; Yves Pouliot; Alain Doyen

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.131808

Impact of holder, high temperature short time and high hydrostatic pressure pasteurization methods on protein structure and aggregation in a human milk protein concentrate

Food Chem. 2022 Apr 16:374:131808. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.131808. Epub 2021 Dec 8.

Authors

Mélanie Sergius-Ronot¹, Michael A Pitino², Shyam Suwal³, Sara Shama², Sharon Unger⁴, Deborah L O'Connor⁵, Yves Pouliot¹, Alain Doyen⁶

Affiliations

¹ Departement of Food Science, Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods (INAF) and Dairy Research Centre (STELA), Laval University, QC, Canada.
² Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Translational Medicine Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.
³ Arla Foods Amba, Agro Food Park 19, Aarhus 8200, Denmark.
⁴ Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Department of Pediatrics, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada; Rogers Hixon Ontario Human Milk Bank, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada.
⁵ Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Translational Medicine Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada; Department of Pediatrics, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada; Rogers Hixon Ontario Human Milk Bank, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada.
⁶ Departement of Food Science, Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods (INAF) and Dairy Research Centre (STELA), Laval University, QC, Canada. Electronic address: alain.doyen@fsaa.ulaval.ca.

PMID: 35021581
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.131808

Abstract

This work evaluated the impact of high temperature short time (HTST, 72 °C, 15 s), high hydrostatic pressure (HHP, 400-600 MPa at 5 and 10 min) and Holder pasteurization (HoP, 62.5 °C, 30 min) on protein profile and aggregation in a human milk protein concentrate (HMPC). The structural changes induced in milk proteins were investigated in HMPC as well as in sedimentable and non-sedimentable fractions recovered after ultracentrifugation. The results showed that heat treatments induced more protein denaturation and aggregation than did HHP treatments. Indeed, heat-induced protein aggregates observed in HMPC and the sedimentable fraction were mainly composed of lactoferrin and α-lactalbumin. More specifically, the concentration of lactoferrin in HMPC decreased by 86% after HTST and HoP whereas no effect was observed after HHP treatment. These results show the potential of HHP processing as a pasteurization method for HMPC since it minimizes the impact on protein structure, which generally correlates to protein quality and bioactivity.

Keywords: Human milk protein concentrate; Lactoferrin; Protein denaturation and aggregation; Protein interaction; Thermal and high hydrostatic pressure treatments; α-Lactalbumin.

MeSH terms

Hot Temperature
Humans
Hydrostatic Pressure
Milk Proteins* / analysis
Milk, Human / chemistry
Pasteurization*
Temperature

Substances

Milk Proteins