The metabolome of human milk is altered differentially by Holder pasteurization and high hydrostatic pressure processing

Léa Chantal Tran; Lucie Marousez; Marie De Lamballerie; Scott McCulloch; Emmanuel Hermann; Frédéric Gottrand; Delphine Ley; Jean Lesage

doi:10.3389/fnut.2023.1107054

The metabolome of human milk is altered differentially by Holder pasteurization and high hydrostatic pressure processing

Front Nutr. 2023 Feb 20:10:1107054. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1107054. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Léa Chantal Tran¹, Lucie Marousez¹, Marie De Lamballerie², Scott McCulloch³, Emmanuel Hermann¹, Frédéric Gottrand^{1

4}, Delphine Ley^{1

4}, Jean Lesage¹

Affiliations

¹ Inserm, CHU Lille, U1286 - INFINITE - Institute for Translational Research in Inflammation, University of Lille, Lille, France.
² GEPEA, UMR CNRS 6144, ONIRIS, Nantes, France.
³ Metabolon, Inc., Morrisville, NC, United States.
⁴ Division of Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition, Department of Paediatrics, Jeanne de Flandre Children's Hospital, CHU Lille, Lille, France.

Abstract

The milk metabolome is composed of hundreds of molecules that can impact infant development. In preterm infants, sterilized donor milk (DM) is frequently used for their feeding. We aimed to identify differences in the metabolome of DM after two types of milk sterilization: the Holder pasteurization (HoP) and a high hydrostatic pressure (HP) processing. DM samples were sterilized by HoP (62.5°C for 30 min) or processed by HP (350 MPa at 38°C). 595 milk metabolites were analyzed using an untargeted metabolomic analysis. Both treatments differentially altered several classes of compounds. The major changes noted included decreased levels of free fatty acids, phospholipid metabolites, and sphingomyelins. Decreases were more strongly noted in HP samples rather than in HoP ones. Both HoP and HP treatments increased the levels of ceramides and nucleotide compounds. The sterilization of human milk altered its metabolome especially for lipids.

Keywords: Holder pasteurization; high hydrostatic pressure; human milk; lipids; metabolomic.