Dietary Intake of Sodium during Infancy and the Cardiovascular Consequences Later in Life: A Scoping Review.

BACKGROUND: High sodium intake is a leading cause of cardiovascular diseases in adults. Further, there is evidence that events in early life are predictors for health outcomes in later life. However, little is known about the impact of early sodium intake on (cardiovascular) health outcomes in later life. SUMMARY: We performed a scoping review of 25 articles, including 11 review studies, 8 randomized controlled trials, 5 prospective cohort studies, and 1 retrospective cohort study, all describing the relationship between the amount of sodium intake during the first 6 months after birth and the health effects and/or risk to cardiovascular disease later in life. We divided the results into 2 different groups: human and animal studies. Key Messages: The results show that high sodium intake in the first 6 months after birth may lead to negative health effects such as higher blood pressure, due to factors like salty taste preference and alterations of the renal system. The findings of this study suggest that the amount of sodium in the diet of an infant in the first 6 months after birth may have an impact on cardiovascular health outcomes in later life.

Human Milk Processing: A Systematic Review of Innovative Techniques to Ensure the Safety and Quality of Donor Milk.

Pasteurization, performed at 62.5°C for 30 minutes (holder pasteurization), is currently recommended in all international human milk banks guidelines, but it affects some human milk bioactive and nutritive components. The present systematic review is aimed at critically reviewing evidence on the suitability of human milk processing techniques other than holder pasteurization, both thermal and nonthermal, to ensure microbiological safety, and on the effects of these techniques on biologically active donor milk components. A systematic review of English and non-English articles using Medline, PubMed, Embase, SCOPUS, and CAB Abstracts, with no restriction in publication date was performed. Search terms included: human, breast, donor, or banked milk, breastmilk, breast fed, breastfed, breastfeed; HTST, Flash, High Pressure, UV, ultrasonic or nonthermal; process, pasteuris, pasteuriz. Only primary research articles published in peer-reviewed journals were included, providing or not a comparison with holder pasteurized human milk, provided that the pasteurization technique was clearly described, and not intended for domestic use. Additional studies were identified by searching bibliographies of relevant articles. Twenty-six studies were identified as being relevant. Two examined both High Pressure Processing and High-Temperature-Short-Time pasteurization; 10 only examined High Pressure Processing; 10 only examined High-Temperature-Short-Time; 2 articles examined ultraviolet irradiation; 2 articles examined (thermo-)ultrasonic processing. The results indicate that data about safety for microbiological control are still scarce for most of the novel technologies, and that consensus on processing conditions is necessary for nonthermal technologies, before any conclusions on the qualitative and nutritional advantages of these techniques can be drawn.