Foods (Apr 2024)

Human Milk—The Biofluid That Nourishes Infants from the First Day of Life

  • Nikoleta Lugonja,
  • Vesna Marinković,
  • Mira Pucarević,
  • Srdjan Miletić,
  • Nataša Stojić,
  • Dragan Crnković,
  • Miroslav Vrvić

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13091298
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 9
p. 1298

Abstract

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Human milk is a biofluid with a unique composition among mammalian milks. Besides this milk’s major components, its bioactive compounds, like hormones, immune factors, and oligosaccharides, are unique and important for infant growth and development. The best form of nutrition for term and preterm infants is the mother’s own milk. However, in the absence of the mother’s own milk, donor milk should be made available. Milk banks support neonatal intensive care units by providing preterm infants with human milk that generally has reasonable nutritive value for this sensitive population. However, neither mother’s own milk nor donor milk has sufficient energy content for the growth of preterm babies, so adequate human milk supplementation is crucial for their progress. Due to the different characteristics of human breast milk, as well as ubiquitous environmental pollutants, such as microplastics, new methods are required for monitoring the quality and characteristics of human milk, which will lay a solid foundation for the further development and progress of human milk research.

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