Czech J. Food Sci., 2025, 43(3):170-178 | DOI: 10.17221/45/2025-CJFS

Effect of pasteurisation and high-pressure processing on selected bioactive components in human milk – An experimental studyOriginal Paper

Miroslava Jandová ORCID...1,2, Michaela Fišerová1, Pavla Paterová ORCID...3, Pavel Měřička ORCID...1, Jan Malý4, Marián Kacerovský ORCID...5, Eliška Kovaříková ORCID...6, Jan Strohalm6, Kateřina Demnerová ORCID...7, Jana Kadavá7, Hana Sýkorová ORCID...7, Radomír Hyšpler ORCID...8, Alena Tichá8, Dana Čížková ORCID...2, Milan Houška ORCID...6, Aleš Bezrouk ORCID...9
1 Tissue Bank, University Hospital Hradec Králové, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
2 Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové, Charles University, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
3 Department of Clinical Microbiology, University Hospital and Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové, Charles University, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
4 Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital Hradec Králové, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
5 Biomedical Research Center, University Hospital Hradec Králové, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
6 Food Research Institute Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
7 Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, Czech Republic
8 Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Diagnostics, University Hospital Hradec Králové, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
9 Department of Medical Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové, Charles University, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic

High-pressure processing (HPP) represents a promising alternative to conventional Holder pasteurisation (HoP) used by human milk banks worldwide. The objective of this study was to identify whether the HPP would achieve the same or better retention of the content of selected analytes than the HoP. Samples collected from 15 breast milk donors were processed in four ways: i) no treatment; ii) HoP; iii) HPP in cycles (350 MPa, 4 cycles); iv) continuous HPP (350 MPa, 20 min). The content of secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA), lactoferrin and lysozyme was determined using commercially available ELISA kits, and the lipase activity was assessed using an A-lipase activity assay kit. Data were compared statistically using paired t-tests. HoP significantly reduced the content of lysozyme and lactoferrin as well as lipase activity (P < 0.001). Cycled HPP significantly decreased lipase activity (P = 0.002), while continuous HPP led to a significant decrease in lysozyme content (P = 0.001) and lipase activity (P = 0.014). Cycled HPP showed high retention of pretreatment levels of lysozyme – median 99 (88; 99%), lactoferrin – 84 (66; 105%), and sIgA content – 83 (28; 117%). Among the studied treatment regimens, the best preservation of initial levels of bioactive components was achieved using HPP at 350 MPa in cycles.

Keywords: bioactive components; breast milk; high-pressure processing; Holder pasteurisation; Milk Bank

Received: March 17, 2025; Revised: April 17, 2025; Accepted: April 22, 2025; Prepublished online: June 18, 2025; Published: June 25, 2025  Show citation

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Jandová M, Fišerová M, Paterová P, Měřička P, Malý J, Kacerovský M, et al.. Effect of pasteurisation and high-pressure processing on selected bioactive components in human milk – An experimental study. Czech J. Food Sci. 2025;43(3):170-178. doi: 10.17221/45/2025-CJFS.
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