An evaluation of enzyme treated milk in infant feeding

Abstract

<h2>Summary</h2> Market milk was treated with a pancreatic proteolytic enzyme just prior to pasteurization. The addition of the enzyme so reduced the curd tension that boiling, for formulation for infant feeding, was found unnecessary. The curds formed from this milk are soft, flocculent, finely divided, and do not tend to agglomerate. The enzyme treatment does not alter the appearance, taste, or cream line of the milk. This milk has been fed at St. Vincent's and Cook County Hospitals, to the premature, newborn, and older infants during the past three years. It has been used either diluted or undiluted in accordance with the usual method of prescribing infant formulas. Several thousand infants were fed this unboiled milk. Observations did not reveal a single instance of milk intolerance. Curds were rarely seen in the infants' stools. The physicochemical change which takes place when the enzyme is added is not definitely known. It is presumed that some change takes place in the calcium casein bond, resulting in denaturization of the casein. The enzyme is inactivated by pasteurization, just as are the indigenous enzymes of milk. The preparation of an infant's food, using cold unboiled milk, cold water, and cold sugar solutions, eliminates the dangerous bacterial multiplication that occurs during the cooling phase of previously heated solutions. Elimination of boiling large quantities of milk reduces the cost of preparation and refrigeration and materially increases the comfort of the workers in the milk kitchen. Our observation demonstrates that the growth and increase in overall measurements of the infants fed enzylac compare favorably with those in a control group on formulas made with other milks and by other methods. When subjected to statistical analysis, the difference between the two groups is not appreciable. Less diarrhea and fewer infections of the upper respiratory tract occurred in the groups fed cold processed enzylac than in those fed control milks.