The trend to higher levels of lactoferrin in preterm mature milk would allow maintenance of the protective effect of human milk in preterm infants in spite of the small volumes ingested by these neonates. These findings support the practice of feeding premature infants with their own mothers' milk at a time when their immune systems have not completely developed.

Inulin and oligofructose exhibit valuable nutritional and functional attributes, so they are used as supplements as soluble fiber or as macronutrient substitutes. As classic analytical methods for dietary fiber measurement are not effective, several specific methods have been proposed. These methods measure total fructans and are based on one or more enzymatic sample treatments and determination of released sugars. To determine inulin for labeling purposes, we developed an easy and rapid anion-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method following water extraction of inulin. HPLC conditions included an Aminex HPX- 87C column (Bio-Rad), deionized water at 85 degrees C as the mobile phase and a refractive index detector. The tested foods included tailor-made food products containing known amounts of inulin and commercial products (cookies, milk, ice creams, cheese, and cereal bars). The average recovery was 97%, and the coefficient of variation ranged from 1.1 to 5% in the food matrixes. The obtained results showed that this method provides an easier, faster and cheaper alternative than previous techniques for determining inulin with enough accuracy and precision for routine labeling purposes by direct determination of inulin by HPLC with refractive index detection.

The purpose of this work was to study the effect of minimal doses of γ‐irradiation to reduce microbial loads (Co60, doses of 0, 1.5, and 3 kGy) on flour from three rice cultivars with different amylose contents (AC) grown in Argentina: RP2 (AC 25%), Yeruá (Y) (AC 19%), and Higokumochi (H) (AC 5%). Studies on some starch characteristics such as digestibility (rate of starch hydrolysis in vitro), gel viscosity and syneresis, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were performed. Results showed that γ‐irradiation affects rice functional and nutritive characteristics proportionally with the dosage used. With 3 kGy, original digestibility values increased 37.5, 60, and 76%; gel viscosity decreased 52, 77, and 90%; and syneresis increased 0, 193, and 546% on RP2, Y, and H, respectively. Amylopectin was the starch fraction most affected as shown by SEM. Although some of these changes in cultivar attributes might be considered negative for traditional food formulations, they could help in the design of new foods or for fermented beverages.

Little information is available on immunoglobulin content of milk from mothers of preterm babies. In this study we have measured IgA levels in samples from preterm and term mothers during the 1st month postpartum. The concentration of IgA tended to be constant in the preterm group (about 251 mg/dl) while it showed a decreasing trend in the term group (from 212.8 +/- 19.9 to 171.6 +/- 12.8 mg/dl). From day 10 onward IgA levels in preterm milk were significantly higher than in term milk (p less than 0.002). These findings support the idea that premature infants fed their own mothers' milk would benefit from more stable levels of IgA, at a time when their mucosal immune system is poorly developed.

Vinal (Prosopis ruscifolia) is an ecologically important wild leguminous tree that grows spontaneously in Argentine deforested lands, the fruit of which is consumed by humans and animals. Because considerable iron content with low to intermediate availability has been previously reported in vinal pulps, its enhancement would be of interest. Iron availability was determined as iron dialyzability using an in vitro technique. Response surface methodology was used to evaluate iron availability increase after adding ascorbic and/or citric acids to vinal pulp at different mM acid/mM Fe ratios. Those ratios ranged from 0.05:1 to 9.95:1 and from 0.5:1 to 99.5:1 for ascorbic acid/Fe (AA:Fe) and citric acid/Fe (CA:Fe), respectively. The obtained second- and first-order polynomial equations showed that AA:Fe and CA:Fe molar ratios linear terms had a significant effect on iron dialyzability increase (P < or = 0.05). It was possible to enhance iron availability to a maximum of 4.6 times. Additional confirmatory experiments were made adding the same organic acids to different vinal pulps and to a traditional cake prepared with vinal pulp called "patay." There were no significant differences (p > 0.05) between predicted values obtained by the model and experimental results.