Zinc-binding properties of bovine and human milk in vitro: influence of changes in zinc content

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Abstract
The total zinc content of samples of fat-free human and bovine milk was 3.5 and 3.6 µg/ml, respectively. The total protein content was 5.3 and 29.0 mg/ml, respectively. Sephadex G-75 gel filtration chromatography of bovine milk revealed no evidence of zinc associated with low molecular weight fractions (2+ in vitro, chromatography of milk from both species revealed the presence of zinc with the low molecular weight fractions. More zinc was associated with these fractions from human milk than from bovine milk. Recovery of zinc was nearly 100% for all columns. It is proposed, based upon these binding data, that the association of zinc with low molecular weight components of milk is related in part to both protein content and composition and the relative zinc concentration. These binding differences might influence the bioavailability of zinc from milk.