The human milk endocannabinoidome is preserved by high hydrostatic pressure processing but altered by holder pasteurization

TL;DR

This study compares how two milk processing methods affect endocannabinoid-like compounds in donor milk, finding that one method preserves them better than the other.

Contribution

The study introduces high hydrostatic pressure processing as a better alternative to pasteurization for preserving endocannabinoid mediators in donor milk.

Findings

High hydrostatic pressure processing preserves endocannabinoid-like mediator concentrations similar to raw donor milk.

Holder pasteurization significantly increases concentrations of four specific N-acyl-ethanolamines.

2-Monoacylglycerols and DHEA remain stable across all processing methods.

Abstract

The microbiological safety of donor milk (DM) is commonly ensured by holder pasteurization (HoP, 62.5°C for 30 min) in human milk banks despite its detrimental effects on several bioactive factors. We compared the concentration of twelve endocannabinoid (eCB)-like mediators in raw DM and in DM after holder pasteurization or high hydrostatic pressure processing (HHP, 350 MPa at 38°C), a non-thermal substitute for DM pasteurization.

We measured five N-acyl-ethanolamines (NAEs) and seven 2-mono-acyl-glycerols (2-MAGs) in raw-DM, HHP-DM and HoP-DM using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).

HoP-DM and HHP-DM demonstrated comparable concentrations compared with raw DM of 2-MAGs as well as for N-docosapentaenoyl-ethanolamine (DHEA, an NAE). However, four other NAEs, including N-arachidonoyl-ethanolamine (AEA), N-palmitoyl-(PEA), N-oleoyl -ethanolamine (OEA) and N-linoleoyl-ethanolamine (LEA) were significantly increased by HoP.

Our study suggests that HHP-DM may more suitable than HoP-DM to improve the development of preterm infants through the preservation of milk eCB mediators at level close to their initial levels in raw DM.

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