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Comparative Electrochemical Determination of Total Antioxidant Activity in Infant Formula with Breast Milk

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Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the significance of breast milk and infant formula in the prevention of oxidative stress, by electrochemical determination of the total antioxidant potential, demonstrating the relationship between the antioxidant capacity of milk and postnatal age. Human breast milk, commercial UHT milk, and infant formulas supplemented with prebiotics were used. Samples were diluted in phosphate buffer solution, and the total antioxidant activity was potentiometrically measured by the iodine/iodide redox couple with the Pt Fisher electrode as a working electrode and saturated calomel as a reference electrode. Cyclic voltammograms and differential pulse voltammograms were recorded with the glassy carbon electrode as the working electrode, an accessory platinum electrode, and an Ag/AgCl reference electrode. The potentiometric measurement indicates that human breast milk has the highest redox potential, while the commercial UHT milk has very low potential. Infant formulas also have high potential. The main advantage of electrochemical methods used to assess the total antioxidant activity of milk was that they directly monitored the electron-donating ability of the compounds and could be used for the quantitative analysis of the total antioxidants of different types of milk.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Serbia, Grants #43004, and the funding source had no involvement in preparation of the article, study design, analysis and interpretation of data, writing of the report, and in the decision to submit the article for publication.

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects.

Conflict of Interest

Nikoleta Lugonja declares that she has no conflict of interest. Dalibor Stankovic declares that he has no conflict of interest. Snezana Spasic declares that she has no conflict of interest. Goran Roglic declares that he has no conflict of interest. Dragan Manojlovic declares that he has no conflict of interest. Miroslav Vrvic declares that he has no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade, Njegoševa 12, P.O. Box 473, 11001, Belgrade, Serbia

    Nikoleta M. Lugonja, Snezana D. Spasić & Miroslav M. Vrvić

  2. Faculty of Chemistry, University of Belgrade, Studentski trg 16, P.O. Box 158, 11001, Belgrade, Serbia

    Dalibor M. Stanković, Goran M. Roglić, Dragan D. Manojlović & Miroslav M. Vrvić

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  1. Nikoleta M. Lugonja
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  2. Dalibor M. Stanković
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  3. Snezana D. Spasić
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  4. Goran M. Roglić
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  5. Dragan D. Manojlović
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  6. Miroslav M. Vrvić
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Correspondence to Nikoleta M. Lugonja.

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Lugonja, N.M., Stanković, D.M., Spasić, S.D. et al. Comparative Electrochemical Determination of Total Antioxidant Activity in Infant Formula with Breast Milk. Food Anal. Methods 7, 337–344 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-013-9631-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-013-9631-7

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