Comparison of gravimetric, creamatocrit and esterified fatty acid methods for determination of total fat content in human milk.
The gravimetric method is considered the gold standard for measuring the fat content of human milk. However, it is labor intensive and requires large volumes of human milk. Other methods, such as creamatocrit and esterified fatty acid assay (EFA), have also been used widely in fat analysis. However, these methods have not been compared concurrently with the gravimetric method. Comparison of the three methods was conducted with human milk of varying fat content. Correlations between these methods were high (r(2)=0.99). Statistical differences (P<0.001) were observed in the overall fat measurements and within each group (low, medium and high fat milk) using the three methods. Overall, stronger correlation with lower mean (4.73g/L) and percentage differences (5.16%) was observed with the creamatocrit than the EFA method when compared to the gravimetric method. Furthermore, the ease of operation and real-time analysis make the creamatocrit method preferable.
School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia. Electronic address: 21192741@student.uwa.edu.au.
Jian
J
Du
School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
Melvin C L
MCL
Gay
School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
Ching Tat
CT
Lai
Separation Science and Metabolomics Laboratory, 90 South Street, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia 6150, Australia; Metabolomics Australia, Western Australia, Australia.
Robert D
RD
Trengove
School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
Peter E
PE
Hartmann
School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia. Electronic address: Donna.geddes@uwa.edu.au.
Donna T
DT
Geddes
D004951:Esterification; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis*; D005504:Food Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000737:chemistry*
D005227:Fatty Acids
Creamatocrit; Esterified fatty acids; Fat content; Gravimetric; Human milk; Lactation