Introduction:

Babies should benefit from breast milk, even when they are lactose intolerant. For this reason, parents should resort to obtaining lactose-free breast milk.

Objective:

To examine the effect of the enzyme ß-galactosidase on the hydrolysis of lactose in mature breast milk for babies clinically diagnosed with lactose intolerance.

Materials and method:

Exploratory, descriptive, and explanatory study. The lactose content was quantified from the beginning to the end of the treatment, controlling variables such as temperature, times, and the amount of ß-galactosidase enzyme added in breast milk. A total of 1.000 ml of breast milk were obtained from the milk bank at Hospital General de Medellín (Antioquia, Colombia).

Results:

Donated samples were first pasteurized and subsequently subjected to the action of the enzyme lactase. The lactose content without the enzyme was quantified, reporting an average of 6.34 mg/100 mL±0.23. The highest contribution of lactose obtained after exposure to the enzyme was 6.07 mg/mL±0.35 (corresponding to 95% of the initial content), at 30 minutes, ending with a contribution of 0.35% at a concentration of 0.4% in 24 hours, percentage that represents 95% of total hydrolysis in breast milk.

Conclusions:

In all the examined samples from different mothers, it was possible to obtain breast milk with low concentrations of lactose 24 hours after these were exposed to the action of ß-galactosidase. This becomes an alternative for feeding lactose intolerant babies and not deprive them from all the benefits offered by breast milk.

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