Human milk
Human milk is an essential requirement for infants as it provides high nutritional value. For babies born with low birth-weight, studies show that feeding them with pure mother’s milk reduces hospital stay and improves growth. However, donated human milk has a high likelihood of transmitting viruses, such as HIV/AIDS. In their article, “Holder pasteurization of donated human milk is effective in inactivating SARS-CoV-2,” Unger et al. examined whether pasteurization of donated milk inactivates the SARS virus. While this article revealed that holder pasteurization renders human milk safe for consumption, there were limitations of small sample size, safety measures, and lack of generalization that faced this study.
Human milk from 10 donors was collected for experimentation. The samples were homogenized, and two were separately spiked with SARS-CoV-2 virus. One spiked milk sample was allowed to remain unpasteurized at room temperature while the other was warmed to 62.5o using Holder’s pasteurization method. After five days, the viral effect was observed and recorded. Results showed that samples spiked with SARS-CoV-2 and pasteurized by Holder’s method had no active viruses. Unger et al. concluded that the pasteurization of human milk successfully eliminates SARS-CoV-2 infection.
While the researchers showed the effectiveness of pasteurized milk in inactivating SARS-CoV-2, their study was not without limitations. First, their study involved only ten samples, which is considered a small sample. According to Simmons, a small sample size results in bias and lack of variability.(1) Hence, the lack of a large sample may have interfered with this study’s accuracy of results. Secondly, this study faced safety challenges. Human milk is sensitive to biological and chemical contamination, thus limiting any experiment with milk. Reyes-Foster, Carter, and Hinojosa in their journal, observed that milk sharing requires adherence to safety practices and clinical protocols. Therefore, the burden of safety may have interfered with this study’s experiment.(2)
Lastly, the weaknesses of this study on sampling and methodology restrict the generalization of outcomes. Although Unger et al. contributed significantly in showing that Holder’s pasteurization method can deactivate viral infection and make human milk safe, their study faced limitations of small sample size, safe handling of milk, and generalization of results to the entire population. Further studies on the effect of pasteurization on human milk are needed.