Soon There Will Be Powdered Breast Milk
However, sometimes breastfeeding is not possible. Breast milk powder could soon be used for these cases .
Breast milk is valued for its health benefits. They extend into adulthood. According to the WHO, breastfeeding reduces child mortality and protects against diseases such as diarrhea, pneumonia and asthma. If you only breastfeed, this also gives your baby the energy it needs to become strong and healthy in the first few months.
Unfortunately, many mothers are unable to breastfeed their baby or as much as they want. Many suffer from diet-related complaints or other illnesses that make breastfeeding difficult.
In these cases, breastfeeding is not possible for both mother and child. This leads to an important question: how can you ensure that these newborns are getting all the nutrients they need without harming their digestive system?
Because of this, banks were opened for breast milk. Here women who produce more milk than they need can donate. However, studies have shown that pasteurizing breast milk destroys some of the essential proteins and fatty acids in milk. These nutrients are known to be vital to the baby’s nutrition. The nutrients break down at high temperatures.
Incredible: breast milk powder
A group of researchers from the University of Guadalajara in Mexico has made a breakthrough through technological advances. With the help of the city’s civil hospital, they have succeeded in developing a completely new type of milk powder: breast milk powder. The process developed is very promising for the storage and preservation of the powder and should be very helpful.
The researchers separated excess water from breast milk at high temperatures. This allowed them to dehydrate the milk and turn it into a powder without pasteurizing it. In addition, there is no need to keep the milk in the freezer, which avoids further breakdown of the nutrients.
The pulverization occurs when the liquid droplets evaporate at a high temperature. The process is called spray drying. The milk is atomized into very small drops and evaporated with hot air. In this way, the liquid in the drops evaporates and after drying they turn into a powder.
The powder is collected drop by drop. This procedure preserves almost all of the ingredients in breast milk. Only 10% of the ingredients are lost. So it can be said that powdered breast milk is almost as good as real breast milk.
Breast milk powder saves lives
With this breakthrough, breast milk can now be stored and transported to isolated populations. The product can be kept for up to 6 months without any loss of quality. This innovation has helped thousands of children in need at no great expense.
As is well known, breast milk banks have an important social function. However, the problematic storage makes safe transport more difficult.
Breast milk powder, on the other hand, offers numerous benefits. Since breast milk powder can be safely transported under different conditions, it can also be taken to more remote areas.
The next hurdle is to create a breast milk powder bank that will benefit large numbers of children. This will particularly help families who live far away from medical facilities and from large cities. The first breast milk powder bank is planned for Mexico, but there will soon be more banks in other countries.
According to the researchers, the breast milk powder bank is currently in the process of filing the patents. When that is done, others can acquire the technology. Such an invention will help many babies with nutritional problems – in and out of hospitals.
