Abstract
The influence of external factors, including temperature, storage, aging, time, and shear rate, on the general rheological behavior of raw human milk is investigated. Rotational and oscillatory experiments were performed. Human milk showed non-Newtonian, shear-thinning, thixotropic behavior with both yield and flow stresses. Storage and aging increased milk density and decreased viscosity. In general, increases in temperature lowered density and viscosity with periods of inconsistent behavior noted between 6–16 ∘ C and over 40 ∘ C. Non-homogeneous breakdown between the yield and flow stresses was found which, when coupled with thixotropy, helps identify the source of nutrient losses during tube feeding.
Highlights
Milk is a species-specific bio-fluid produced in the mammary gland and traditionally fed directly to young at the breast
This study found that refrigeration appears to decrease viscosity compared to fresh, at low shear rates, which is supported by previous findings on bovine milk [6]
Raw human milk flow properties vary with respect to temperature, storage, aging, time, and shear rate
Summary
Milk is a species-specific bio-fluid produced in the mammary gland and traditionally fed directly to young at the breast. When infants cannot feed directly at the breast, mothers express their milk to be fed by artificial methods, such as gastric tubes, cups, or bottles [2]. Storage and feeding methods can result in nutrient losses in expressed human milk [3,4,5] which indicates that rheological changes in milk occur during storage and negatively impact flow. The main aim of this work is to explore rheological behavior of human milk and how external factors impact that behavior. Most rheological studies on mammalian milk occur with dairy animals, predominately bovine
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