The Effects of Therapeutic Ultrasound on Human Milk Composition: A Quasi-Experimental Pre-Post Design Study.
Leanda Jane McKenna, Kristin Eu, Renee McGregor and 7 others
PMID 41906357WHAT IT FOUND
Therapeutic ultrasound to the lactating breast did not show a change in milk protein or lactose in this study.
Milk fat rose by 1.36%, but milk removal alone can cause that, so do not credit ultrasound for it.
Key findings
01Therapeutic ultrasound did not show a change in human milk protein or lactose concentrations.
02Human milk fat concentration increased by 1.36% after ultrasound.
03The fat increase cannot be credited to ultrasound because removing milk itself can raise fat concentration.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
There was no placebo control, so normal changes as the breast empties could not be separated from the ultrasound effect. Ultrasound was applied to one area of the right breast, but milk from the whole right breast was analysed, which could dilute any local effect. Breast temperature during ultrasound was not measured, so the heat exposure of the milk is unknown. The mothers were healthy and exclusively breastfeeding, not mothers with inflammatory breast conditions who would usually receive this treatment. Only protein, lactose, and fat were measured; immune and bioactive milk components were not checked. Only 26 mothers were analysed, so the study is small. Milk removal itself can raise fat concentration, so the fat increase may not have been caused by ultrasound.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that therapeutic ultrasound increases milk fat or improves milk quality. The protein and lactose outcomes did not show a change, and the authors state that removing milk itself can raise fat, so ultrasound was not established as the cause.