Pooling Strategies to Modify Macronutrient Content of Pasteurized Donor Human Milk

Background: Donor human milk (DHM) is the recommended feeding for preterm infants when mother's own milk is unavailable or insufficient. DHM macronutrient's variability may have significant implications on preterm growth. Different pooling strategies could be used to improve the macronutrient content, facilitating the achievement of nutritional requirements of preterm.Objective: The aim was to compare the impact of random pooling (RP) and target pooling (TP) strategies on the macronutrient content of DHM and to identify which RP practice allows the achievement of a macronutrient composition as similar as possible to that achievable with TP.Methods: The macronutrient content of 1,169 single-donor pools was analyzed, and a TP strategy combining 2,3,4, or 5 single-donor pools was adopted. On the bases of single-donor pools' analyses, a simulation of 10,000 randomly selected pools for each configuration of donor considered and for different milk volume proportions was performed.Results: Regardless of the type of strategy and milk volume, as the number of donor per pool increases, the percentage of pools with a macronutrient content equal or higher than the reference values for human milk increases.Conclusion: When a TP strategy is not feasible, a RP strategy combining at least five donors should be performed to obtain a better macronutrient content of DHM.

Automated summary

This study compared the impact of random pooling and target pooling on the macronutrient content of donor human milk for preterm infants, and identified the best random pooling strategy to achieve a similar macronutrient composition as target pooling. The results showed that when target pooling is not feasible, a random pooling strategy with at least five donors should be used to obtain a better macronutrient content.