Determination of lactoferrin content and the total antioxidant capacity, in animal, or powdered milks and food supplements available in drugstore, using biosensors. Study of the possible correlation between them

Background: Recently also food supplements for adults containing lactoferrin have appeared on the market. Recent experimental results support the proposal that oral supplements of bovine lactoferrin may be a useful adjunct in the modulation of immune activity, in particular T-cell activation and antioxidant status. Objective: The present research shows as it is possible to determine in a successfully and inexpensive way, respectively using an immunosensor and an enzyme sensor, both the lactoferrin content, and the total antioxidant capacity values in real samples. Food samples analyzed to this purpose have been food integrators containing lactoferrin, available in drug stores, edible animal milk samples and dairy derivatives, such as powdered milk, or yogurt. Method: Using two sensors, optimized in previous researches, we simultaneously measured lactoferrin concentration and antioxidant capacity in food supplements sold in drugstores as well as in cow, goat, powdered milk and in yoghurt. Results: It was also tried to verify if exists between found lactoferrin content and total antioxidant capacity data values, any correlation. Actually some correlation has been found in milk samples, but only in one of the analyzed food integrators this correlation has been evidenced. Results emphasize as the lactoferrin content was clearly shown to contribute to the total antioxidant capacity in both food supplements and various milk and milk derivative samples. Conclusion: The present research also proved that it was possible to perform a suitable and fast determination of lactoferrin in the food supplements tested and to compare the lactoferrin concentration, declared by the manufacturers, with the experimental measure content value, using an inexpensive immunosensor, instead other more complex and costly instrumental methods. At this stage of the research it was not always possible to prove a direct correlation between lactoferrin concentration and (TAOC) value in all examined food supplements, as some other molecules with a well known high antioxidant capacity are present in the analyzed food supplements.