Abstract
With human milk being the most important source of infant nutrition, the protection and support of breastfeeding are essential from a global health perspective. Nevertheless, relatively few objective methods are available to investigate human milk composition and lactation physiology when a mother experiences breastfeeding problems. We argue that optics and photonics offer promising opportunities for this purpose. Any research activity within this new application field starts with a thorough understanding on how light interacts with human milk. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the full set of optical properties for human milk and the biological variability therein. Using a novel approach that combines spatially resolved diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (SR-DRS) and spectroscopic optical coherence tomography (sOCT) between 450 and 650 nm, we quantified the absorption coefficient µa , scattering coefficient µs , reduced scattering coefficient µs', anisotropy g and backscattering coefficient µb,NA of mature human milk from 14 participants released at different stages during a breastfeed (foremilk, bulk milk and hindmilk). Significant correlations were found between µa , µs , µs' and µb,NA and the biochemically determined fat concentration per sample (Rs = 0.38, Rs = 0.77, Rs = 0.80, Rs = 0.44 respectively). We explained the observed variations in the optical properties of human milk using Mie theory and the biological variability in both the concentration and size distribution of milk fat globules. In conclusion, we have provided a full set of optical properties for human milk, which can hopefully serve as a starting point for future biophotonic studies on human milk and the milk containing lactating breast.
Highlights
From a medical, social, economic and environmental perspective, human milk is the optimal source of nutrition for infants in early life [1,2]
3.1 Experimentally derived optical property spectra The median spectra and their range of variation for all experimentally derived optical properties are shown in Fig. 2 for foremilk, bulk milk and hindmilk
The combination of spatially resolved diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (SR-DRS) and spectroscopic optical coherence tomography (sOCT) allowed for measurements of a full set of optical property spectra, whereas SR-DRS and sOCT individually can only provide single sets of μa and μs’, or μt and μb,NA, respectively
Summary
Social, economic and environmental perspective, human milk is the optimal source of nutrition for infants in early life [1,2]. Despite all of this evidence, worldwide breastfeeding rates do not comply with the advice of the World Health Organization for mothers to exclusively breastfeed their infants until the age of 6 months, followed by continued breastfeeding with complimentary foods until a minimum age of 2 years [4]. Compared to other fields of medical research, the scientific activity on human milk and lactation research is underrepresented [6]. For those mothers who experience breastfeeding problems, lactation support will benefit from a better scientific understanding on lactation physiology and pathology, as well as human milk composition and function
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