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Antioxidant Capacity and Quality of Human Milk and Infant Formula Determined by Direct Current Polarography

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Abstract

Antioxidants present in infant food contribute to its nutritive value and provide protection from oxidative damage. Here, a direct current polarographic method, based on a decrease of anodic current from the hydroxoperhydroxo-mercury(II) complex (HPMC) formed at a mercury dropping electrode at its potential of dissolution, was used to determine the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of infant formulas, human milk collected from mothers of full-term and preterm infants, human milk supplemented with fortifier, and cow milk. TAC of milk samples and infant formula correlated with protein content measured by the Bradford method (Pearson correlation coefficient 0.605, p<0.001), while TAC of human milk correlated with content of free thiol groups measured by the Ellman method (0.779, p<0.001). The results obtained showed that, in contrast to the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, HPMC enables specific insight into the quality of infant milk food which reflects the amounts of free thiol groups and protein content. The significant contribution of milk proteins and the most prevalent amino acids, particularly cysteine, arginine, and phenylalanine, to TAC was shown. Thus, the HPMC method might be useful in monitoring the quality of infant formulas and human milk for preterm infants before and after supplementation with fortifier.

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Funding

This work is supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia (Grant Nos. 451-03-68/2020-14/200026, 451-03-68/2020-14/200051, and 451-03-68/2020-14/200168), and the funding sources had no involvement in the preparation of the article, study design, analysis and interpretation of data, writing of the report, or decision to submit the article for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Belgrade, Institute of Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy, Njegoseva 12, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia

    N. Lugonja & S. Spasić

  2. Institute of General and Physical Chemistry, Studentski trg 12-16, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia

    S. Gorjanović

  3. University of Belgrade, Faculty of Chemistry, Studentski trg 12-16, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia

    F. T. Pastor

  4. Institute of Neonatology, Kralja Milutina 50, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia

    V. Marinković

  5. University of Belgrade, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Department of Statistics, 11000, Belgrade, Serbia

    B. Miličić

  6. Brem Group, Ltd., Str. Oslobodjenja39b, Belgrade, 11090, Serbia

    M. Vrvić

Authors
  1. N. Lugonja
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  2. S. Gorjanović
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  3. F. T. Pastor
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  4. V. Marinković
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  5. B. Miličić
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  6. M. Vrvić
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  7. S. Spasić
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Contributions

Conceptualization and methodology: N.L. and S.G.; implementation of research: N.L., V.M., S.S., and F.P.; statistical analysis: B.M.; figure preparation: F.P.; writing—original draft preparation: N.L.. All authors commented, reviewed, and edited on the previous version of the manuscript, while authors M.V. and S.S. revised it critically. All the authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to N. Lugonja.

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Ethics Approval

Approval was obtained from the Ethical Committee of the Institute of Neonatology, Belgrade, Serbia (N82401/4).

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Conflict of Interest

Lugonja N declares that she has no conflict of interest. Gorjanović S declares that she has no conflict of interest. Pastor FT declares that he has no conflict of interest. Marinković V declares that she has no conflict of interest. Miličić B declares that she has no conflict of interest. Vrvić M declares that he has no conflict of interest. Spasić S declares that she has no conflict of interest.

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Lugonja, N., Gorjanović, S., Pastor, F.T. et al. Antioxidant Capacity and Quality of Human Milk and Infant Formula Determined by Direct Current Polarography. Food Anal. Methods 14, 1987–1994 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-021-02030-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-021-02030-3

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