The Question of the Elimination of Foreign Protein (Egg-White) in Woman's Milk

Abstract

Summary Evidence of the elimination in the breast milk of food proteins ingested by lactating women, has been clinical. Stuart's inability to confirm Shannon's experiments and conclusions casts grave doubt upon their validity. Walzer's egg absorption work makes it possible to determine when the lactating mother has unaltered egg protein in her blood stream. This constitutes a valuable guide as to the time to collect the breast milk for the study of its egg content. A human anti-egg serum, such as serum F, once found, is available for a long time, and offers considerable latitude to the experimenter. Among receptive skins moderate differences in reactivity are found. A specific test of great delicacy for egg-white is offered by the site in a reactive skin sensitized by human anti-egg serum of high reagin content. Serum F sites may react to one part of egg-white in ten billion parts of salt solution or breast milk whey. A method for the preparation of concentrated breast milk whey for testing is presented, although its concentration may not be of great importance. The concentrated whey of breast milk obtained after raw egg ingestion, on an empty stomach and without other food, from three of eight women, gave the specific reaction for egg-white greater than the control, in sensitized sites in two normal recipients for each whey. Four recipients were utilized for the tests. By comparison of the skin reactions obtained with the breast milk whey, with those of known dilutions of egg-white, it is estimated that the concentration of egg-white in one of them was one part in a million, and in each of the others one part of egg-white in a billion parts. An unsuccessful attempt was made to sensitize a guinea pig passively to egg-white with 2.5 cc. of serum F intraperitoneally, as shown by the uterine strip method of Dale.