Human Infant Nutrition Research Articles

Chemistry of Human Breast Milk-A Comprehensive Review of the Composition and Role of Milk Metabolites in Child Development.

Early nutrition has an enormous influence on a child's physiological function, immune system maturation, and cognitive development. Human breast milk (HBM) is recognized as the gold standard for human infant nutrition. According to a WHO report, breastfeeding is considered as an unequaled way of providing ideal food to the infant, which is required for his healthy growth and development. HBM contains various macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and vitamins) as well as numerous bioactive compounds and interactive elements (growth factors, hormones, cytokines, chemokines, and antimicrobial compounds. The aim of this review is to summarize and discuss the current knowledge about metabolites, which are the least understood components of HBM, and their potential role in infant development. We focus on small metabolites (<1500 Da) and characterize the chemical structure and biological function of polar metabolites such as human milk oligosaccharides, nonprotein molecules containing nitrogen (creatine, amino acids, nucleotides, polyamines), and nonpolar lipids. We believe that this manuscript will provide a comprehensive insight into a HBM metabolite composition, chemical structure, and their role in a child's early life nutrition.

Barriers to Breastfeeding in Female Physicians.

Breast milk is considered the normative nutrition for human infants, and exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life is recommended by several national and global societies. Female physicians are a high-risk group for early unintended weaning. We aimed to assess and compare the most common barriers to successful breastfeeding perceived by female physicians in various stages of training and practice. Female faculty physicians and trainees (medical students, resident physicians, and fellows) affiliated with a large medical university in 2016 were surveyed via an anonymous web-based survey distributed through institutional e-mail lists. The three-item survey assessed role, breastfeeding experience, and perceived barriers to successful breastfeeding. Comparisons between groups were performed using Wilcoxon rank-sum tests or Fisher's exact tests. The survey was distributed to 1,301 women with 223 responses included in analysis. The majority (57%) of respondents had never breastfed; of those, 87% reported plans to breastfeed in the future. Ninety-seven percent of women with breastfeeding experience reported at least one perceived barrier to successful breastfeeding. Trainees identified more barriers compared with faculty physicians (median count 5 versus 3, p = 0.014). No individual barrier reached statistical significance when comparing between faculty and trainees. The most frequently identified barriers to breastfeeding were lack of time and appropriate place to pump breast milk, unpredictable schedule, short maternity leave, and long working hours. Physicians and medical students who breastfeed face occupation-related barriers that could lead to early unintended weaning. Trainees and faculty report similar barriers. Institutional support may help improve some barriers to successful breastfeeding in female physicians.

Breastfeeding Barriers in Female Physicians

Purpose: Breast milk is considered the normative nutrition for human infants, and exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life is recommended by several national and global societies .Female physicians have been shown to be a high-risk group for early unintended weaning. This study aimed to assess and compare the most common barriers perceived by female physicians in various stages of training and practice. Methods: We surveyed female faculty physicians, fellows, residents, and medical …

Inhibiting Cholesterol Absorption During Lactation Programs Future Intestinal Absorption of Cholesterol in Adult Mice

In nematodes, the intestine senses and integrates early life dietary cues that lead to lifelong epigenetic adaptations to a perceived nutritional environment-it is not clear whether this process occurs in mammals. We aimed to establish a mouse model of reduced dietary cholesterol availability from maternal milk and investigate the consequences of decreased milk cholesterol availability, early in life, on the metabolism of cholesterol in adult mice. We blocked intestinal absorption of cholesterol in milk fed to newborn mice by supplementing the food of dams (for 3 weeks between birth and weaning) with ezetimibe, which is secreted into milk. Ezetimibe interacts with the intestinal cholesterol absorption transporter NPC1l1 to block cholesterol uptake into enterocytes. Characterization of these offspring at 24 weeks of age showed a 27% decrease in cholesterol absorption (P < .001) and reduced levels of Npc1l1 messenger RNA and protein, but not other cholesterol transporters, in the proximal small intestine. We observed increased histone H3K9me3 methylation at positions -423 to -607 of the proximal Npc1l1 promoter in small intestine tissues from 24-week-old offspring fed ezetimibe during lactation, compared with controls. These findings show that the early postnatal mammalian intestine functions as an environmental sensor of nutritional conditions, responding to conditions such as low cholesterol levels by epigenetic modifications of genes. Further studies are needed to determine how decreased sterol absorption for a defined period might activate epigenetic regulators; the findings of our study might have implications for human infant nutrition and understanding and preventing cardiometabolic disease.

The Prevalence of Exclusive Breast Feeding and Associated Factors Among Mothers of Less than Two Years Children in Kurkur Kebele, Dessie Town

Breast milk is the one and only natural, complete and complex nutrition for human infants. It is superior to any product given to a baby. It is immediately available, fresh, constant, and economical. It provides all infants nutritional and fluid needs in the first six months and is a perfect combination of proteins, fats, carbohydrate and fluids. Nutrients such as vitamins A and C, iron, zinc and vitamin D are more easily absorbed from breast milk than from other milk. And it contains essential fatty acids needed for the infant’s growing brain, eyes, and blood vessels and these are not available in other milks. The aim of the this study is to assess prevalence of exclusive breast feeding and factors associated with it among mothers with children of less than 2 years old in Dessie town, South Wollo, Ethiopia, 2016. The community based quantitative cross-sectional study was carried out. From the total mothers who had ever breastfed their infant 332, about 326 (98.2%) of them were breastfeeding at the time of the survey. The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding for the children in the study area was 49.7%. From the study subjects 296(89.2%) had previous experience of breast feeding practice, among them 78 (26.4%) had exclusive breast feeding practice. 236 (72.4) children were given food items. As to the given items, 236(100 %), 82 (34.7%), 34 (14.4%), 158 (66.9%), 209 (88.6) and 142 (60.2%) children were given plain water, juice, infant formula, animal milk, solid foods and other fluids respectively. From the total respondents 1(0.3%) had given water before initiation of breast feeding and 6 (1.8%) had stopped breast feeding at the time of survey and all stopped after one year of age of the child. In this study, the duration of exclusive breastfeeding was below the World Health Organization and national infant and young child feeding recommendations.

Moderate Perinatal Choline Deficiency Elicits Altered Physiology and Metabolomic Profiles in the Piglet.

Few studies have evaluated the impact of dietary choline on the health and well-being of swine, and those pivotal papers were aimed at determining dietary requirements for sows and growing pigs. This is of importance as the piglet is becoming a widely accepted model for human infant nutrition, but little is known about the impacts of perinatal choline status on overall health and metabolism of the growing piglet. In the present study, sows were provided either a choline deficient (CD, 625 mg choline/kg dry matter) or choline sufficient (CS, 1306 mg choline/kg dry matter) diet for the last 65 d of gestation (prenatal intervention). Piglets were weaned from the sow 48 h after farrowing and provided either a CD (477 mg choline/kg dry matter) or CS (1528 mg choline/kg dry matter) milk replacer (postnatal intervention) for 29 ± 2 d, resulting in a factorial arrangement of 4 treatment (prenatal/postnatal) groups: CS/CS, CS/CD, CD/CS, and CD/CD. Piglet growth was normal for artificially-reared piglets, and was not impacted by perinatal choline status. Piglets receiving the postnatal CD treatment had lower (P < 0.01) plasma choline and choline-containing phospholipid concentrations and higher (P < 0.05) liver enzyme (alkaline phosphatase and gamma-glutamyl transferase) values compared with piglets receiving the postnatal CS treatment. Hepatic lipid content of piglets receiving the postnatal CD treatment was higher (P < 0.01) compared with piglets receiving the postnatal CS treatment. Additionally, postnatally CD piglets had lower (P = 0.01) plasma cholesterol than postnatally CS piglets. Brain development was also impacted by perinatal choline status, with brains of piglets exposed to prenatal CD being smaller (P = 0.01) than those of prenatally CS piglets. These findings support the hypothesis that the piglet is a sensitive model for choline deficiency during the perinatal period. In the present study, piglets exhibited similarities in health markers and metabolomic profiles to rodents and humans when exposed to moderate choline deficiency.

'I thought it would keep them all quiet'. Women's experiences of breastfeeding as illusions of compliance: an interpretive phenomenological study.

AimsTo explore the experiences of breastfeeding women.BackgroundThere is a plethora of data demonstrating that human breast milk provides complete nutrition for human infants. While the rate of initiation of breastfeeding in the United Kingdom has shown a steady increase in the last 25 years, rates of exclusive breastfeeding in the early weeks and months over the same time period have shown only marginal increases. This study was designed to extend current knowledge around breastfeeding experiences, decisions and behaviours.DesignQualitative, interpretive phenomenological approach.MethodsData were collected between July 2009–January 2010 through in-depth interviews with 22 women from a city in the East Midlands where the prevalence of breastfeeding has showed a decreasing trend. Data were collected between 3–6 months after the birth of their youngest baby.FindingsAnalysis of data uncovered a key theme: illusions of compliance. The findings revealed that women's breastfeeding behaviours were socially mediated. They adopted a good mother image by conforming to the moral obligation to breastfeed immediately after their babies were born. Those women who struggled to establish breastfeeding tried to hide their difficulties rather than admit that they were not coping.ConclusionThis study provides insights into women's infant feeding decisions and behaviours, building on understandings of ‘good mothering’ in the wider literature. Importantly we highlight some of the previously unknown strategies that women employed to portray themselves as calm, coping and in control when in reality they were struggling and not enjoying breastfeeding.

Breast Feeding- An Ayurveda Perceptive

It is widely recognized that breastfeeding is the best nutrition for human infants. Breast milk is the optimal food for almost all infants in the first year of life. The breast milk provides numerous health benefits to both mother and baby. Breastfeeding should begin soon after birth. It is important that infants open their mouth wide enough when breastfeeding to grasp the nipple and the areola (pigmented circle around the nipple). Breastfeeding is the best way to care for new child. Besides the overwhelming bonding it creates, breast milk is also the perfect food for them. Likewise in Ayurvedic texts, formation of stanya (breast milk), causes of stanya pravriti (or milk ejection), dhatri (wetnurse), dhatri-pariksha (examination of wet-nurse), stanapan-vidhi (breast feeding), stanyasampat (merits of breasts), stanyanasha hetu (causes of cessation of milk formation), stanyaviridhi dravyas (drugs increasing quantity of milk), stanya apanayakala (weaning period), abnormalities of breast-milk and its treatment etc. are discussed in detail.

Conservation of the ST6Gal I gene and its expression in the mammary gland

Milk sialoglycoconjugates can protect the gastrointestinal tract of the suckling neonate by competitively binding to invading pathogens and promoting growth of beneficial flora, and their potential role in postnatal brain development is of particular interest in human infant nutrition. Although the concentration and the distribution of sialoglycoconjugates have been extensively studied in the milk of various species, the investigation of sialyltransferase gene expression in the mammary gland, in the context of lactation, has been limited. The sialyltransferase enzyme ST6Gal I transfers sialic acid from CMP-sialic acid to type 2 (Galβ1,4GlcNAc) free disaccharides or the termini of N- or O-linked oligosaccharides using an α2,6-linkage. Expression of the ST6Gal I gene is primarily regulated at the level of transcription through the use of several cell and development-specific promoters, producing transcripts with divergent 5' untranslated regions (UTR). In the mouse mammary gland, the novel 5'UTR exon (L) appears to be associated with a drastic increase in ST6Gal I gene expression during lactation. We find that rats also possess an exon (L), suggesting conservation of this regulatory mechanism in rodents. In contrast, an exon (L)-containing transcript was not detected in the lactating bovine or human mammary gland. We also observed a trend of increasing ST6Gal I gene expression in the bovine mammary gland, culminating in involution. This is in contrast to species such as mice where the greatest change in ST6Gal I gene expression occurs between pregnancy and lactation, suggesting different roles in rodents vs. other mammals for α2,6-sialylated oligosaccharides present in milk.

Proteomic analysis reveals altered expression of proteins related to glutathione metabolism and apoptosis in the small intestine of zinc oxide-supplemented piglets

Zinc is an important dietary factor that regulates intestinal amino acid and protein metabolism in animals. Recent work with the piglet, an established animal model for studying human infant nutrition, has shown that supplementing high levels of zinc oxide (ZnO) to the diet ameliorates weaning-associated intestinal injury and growth retardation. However, the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. This study tested the hypothesis that zinc supplementation affects expression of proteins related to glutathione metabolism and oxidative stress in the gut. Using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry, we identified 22 up-regulated and 19 down-regulated protein spots in the jejunum of weanling piglets supplemented with ZnO (3,000 mg/kg Zn) compared with the control pigs (100 mg/kg Zn). These proteins are related to energy metabolism (increased level for succinyl-CoA transferase and decreased level for creatine kinase M-type); oxidative stress (decreased levels for 78 kDa glucose-regulated protein and glutathione-S-transferase-omega); and cell proliferation and apoptosis (increased levels for A-Raf-1 and calregulin). Consistent with the changes in protein expression, the ratio of reduced glutathione to oxidized glutathione was increased, whereas glutathione-S-transferase and glutathione peroxidase activities as well as the protein level of active caspase-3 were reduced in ZnO-supplemented piglets. Collectively, these results indicate that ZnO supplementation improves the redox state and prevents apoptosis in the jejunum of weaning piglets, thereby alleviating weaning-associated intestinal dysfunction and malabsorption of nutrients (including amino acids).

Dietary supplementation with cholesterol and docosahexaenoic acid affects concentrations of amino acids in tissues of young pigs

Cholesterol and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are important nutrients for neural development of infants. However, little is known about the effect of cholesterol or DHA on concentrations of amino acids (AA) in neonatal tissues. This study was conducted with the piglet (an established model for studying human infant nutrition) to test the hypothesis that dietary supplementation with the lipids may modulate AA availability in tissues. Sixteen newborn pigs were nursed by sows for 24 h and then assigned to one of four treatment groups, representing supplementation with 0.0% (control), 0.2% cholesterol, 0.2% DHA, or cholesterol plus DHA to the basal milk-formula. All piglets were euthanized at 49 days of age. In brain, cholesterol supplementation reduced (P < 0.05) concentrations of glutamate, serine, glutamine, threonine, beta-alanine, alanine, methionine, isoleucine, leucine, and gamma-aminobutyrate but increased (P < 0.05) concentrations of glycine and lysine, whereas DHA supplementation similarly affected (P < 0.05) concentrations of the same AA (except for isoleucine and lysine) and taurine. In addition, concentrations of most AA in liver, muscle and plasma were substantially altered by dietary supplementation of cholesterol and DHA in a tissue-dependent manner. Further, DHA reduced concentrations of carnosine in skeletal muscle, as well as ammonia in both plasma and brain. The results reveal that cholesterol and DHA can regulate AA metabolism and availability in various tissues of piglets. These novel findings have important implications for designing the next generation of infant formula to optimize neonatal growth and development.

Impaired translation initiation activation and reduced protein synthesis in weaned piglets fed a low-protein diet

Weanling mammals (including infants) often experience intestinal dysfunction when fed a high-protein diet. Recent work with the piglet (an animal model for studying human infant nutrition) shows that reducing protein intake can improve gut function during weaning but compromises the provision of essential amino acids (EAA) for muscle growth. The present study was conducted with weaned pigs to test the hypothesis that supplementing deficient EAA (Lys, Met, Thr, Trp, Leu, Ile and Val) to a low-protein diet may maintain the activation of translation initiation factors and adequate protein synthesis in tissues. Pigs were weaned at 21 days of age and fed diets containing 20.7, 16.7 or 12.7% crude protein (CP), with the low-CP diets supplemented with EAA to achieve the levels in the high-CP diet. On Day 14 of the trial, tissue protein synthesis was determined using the phenylalanine flooding dose method. Reducing dietary CP levels decreased protein synthesis in pancreas, liver, kidney and longissimus muscle. A low-CP diet reduced the phosphorylation of eukaryotic initiation factor (eIF) 4E-binding protein-1 (4E-BP1) in skeletal muscle and liver while increasing the formation of an inactive eIF4E·4E-BP1 complex in muscle. Dietary protein deficiency also decreased the phosphorylation of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and the formation of an active eIF4E·eIF4G complex in liver. These results demonstrate for the first time that chronic feeding of a low-CP diet suppresses protein synthesis in animals partly by inhibiting mTOR signaling. Additionally, our findings indicate that supplementing deficient EAA to low-protein diets is not highly effective in restoring protein synthesis or whole-body growth in piglets. We suggest that conditionally essential amino acids (e.g., glutamine and arginine) may be required to maintain the activation of translation initiation factors and optimal protein synthesis in neonates.

Neonatal Dietary Cholesterol and Alleles of Cholesterol 7-α Hydroxylase Affect Piglet Cerebrum Weight, Cholesterol Concentration, and Behavior ,

This experiment was designed to test the effect of polymorphism in the cholesterol 7-α hydroxylase (CYP7) gene locus and dietary cholesterol (C) on cerebrum C in neonatal pigs fed sow’s milk formulas. Thirty-six pigs (18 male and 18 female) genetically selected for high (HG) or low (LG) plasma total C were weaned at 24–36 h after birth and assigned in a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments with 2 diets (0 or 0.5% C), 2 sexes, and 2 genotypes (HG and LG). Individually housed pigs consumed diets ad libitum for 42 d. Open-field behavior was tested at wk 2 and 4. All pigs were killed at 42 d of age, the cerebrum was weighed, and C content and concentration measured. All data were analyzed by general linear model ANOVA. Cerebrum weight was greater in HG than LG pigs (P < 0.03) but was not affected by diet or sex. Pigs fed C tended to have a higher cerebrum C concentration than those deprived (P = 0.12). At 2 wk, LG pigs explored a novel open-field environment less often (P < 0.001) than did HG pigs. At 4 wk, some LG pigs explored the open field but fewer (P < 0.001) vs. HG pigs retreated back to the safe area. There were no genotype x diet, genotype x sex, or diet x sex interactions affecting cerebrum weight, or C content or concentration. Polymorphism in the CYP7 gene locus affected cerebrum weight and behavior and dietary C tended to increase cerebrum C concentration in neonatal pigs. These findings in neonatal pigs have considerable potential importance in human infant nutrition and behavioral development.

Pharmacology Review

After completing this article, readers should be able to: 1. Describe the transfer of various medications into human milk. 2. Describe the hazards, if any, of administering medications to breastfeeding mothers. 3. Describe the treatment of various syndromes with medications most suitable for breastfeeding mothers. Human milk not only is perfect nutrition for human infants, but it also provides an enormous array of growth factors and, most importantly, immunoglobulins that protect the infant from infectious disease during the first year after birth. Human milk is perfectly suited for the infant’s gastrointestinal (GI) tract, with the numerous growth factors enhancing growth and maturation of a relatively permeable GI tract and the high concentration of immunoglobulins directly protecting the GI tract from infectious organisms. Ultimately, infectious disease and mortality are significantly reduced in breastfed infants. Although recent studies clearly have suggested that the number of women who choose to breastfeed is rising, the number of women who discontinue breastfeeding to take a medication because of advice from their clinicians is too high. Surveys in western countries indicate that 90% to 99% of women who breastfeed receive at least one medication during the first week postpartum. In at least one study, the use of medications was one of the major reasons that women discontinued breastfeeding. Generally, some medication penetrates the milk compartment and exposes most infants to some medication, albeit in low concentrations. The degree of risk almost always is a function of the type (and risks) of medication being used and the dose transferred to the infant. Fortunately, for most medications, the dose transferred to the infant and the subsequent risk is low to nil. However, the clinician always must evaluate individual cases with respect to the medication used, the dose of medication transferred, and the relative ability of the infant to maintain homeostasis while …

Human and Bovine Milk Gangliosides Differ in Their Fatty Acid Composition

Gangliosides are considered bioactive components in human infant nutrition, and their fatty acid composition alters their biological effects. We used matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight (MALDI-TOF) MS and GLC to analyze the fatty acid composition of the predominant gangliosides, the monosialoganglioside GM(3) [sialic acid (Sia) alpha2-3 galactose (Gal) beta1-4 glucose (Glc) beta1-1 ceramide] and the disialoganglioside GD(3) (Sia alpha2-8 Sia alpha2-3 Gal beta1-4 Glc beta1-1 ceramide), in pooled human and bovine milk, the latter being a source for gangliosides in infant formula. Compared with whole milk lipids, both human and bovine milk gangliosides were selectively enriched with certain fatty acids, and the fatty acid composition of milk gangliosides in the 2 species was significantly different. The amount of long-chain fatty acids (> or =20 C atoms) was higher in bovine milk gangliosides (GM(3): 73.71 +/- 3.39%; GD(3): 79.19 +/- 2.79%) than in human milk gangliosides (GM(3): 51.25 +/- 0.65%; GD(3): 34.04 +/- 1.80%). Tricosanoic acid (23:0) dominated in bovine milk gangliosides (GM(3): 24.05 +/- 1.37%; GD(3): 26.66 +/- 1.24%), whereas it only played a minor role in human milk gangliosides (GM(3): 2.88 +/- 0.10%; GD(3): 1.84 +/- 0.29%). We hypothesized that the differences in the fatty acid composition of milk gangliosides result in physiological distinctions between breast-fed and formula-fed infants and therefore are of importance for human infant nutrition.

Breast-feeding multiples

Human breast milk is the best nutrition for human infants. Its advantages over the milk of other species, such as cows, include both a reduced risk for infections, allergies and chronic diseases, together with the full nutritional requirements for growth and development. Breast-feeding is as important for multiples as for singletons. Despite the advantages, multiples receive less breast-feeding than singletons. Common reasons for not breast-feeding multiples include the fear of not fulfilling the infants' needs and the difficulty of coping with the demands on the mother's time. In addition, many multiples are delivered prematurely and by Caesarean section. Maternal pain and discomfort together with anxiety over the infants' condition are not conducive to successful breast-feeding. During lactation, the mother needs to add calories to her daily diet. It has been recommended to add approximately 500–600 kcal/day for each infant. Thus, between eating, nursing and sleeping, life is very busy for the mother of multiples. However, there is evidence that, with appropriate nutrition, one mother can nourish more than one infant. Also, simultaneous breast-feeding can save much time. Combined efforts of parents, close family, friends and the medical team can help to make either full or partial breast-feeding of multiples possible. However, when breast-feeding is not possible, health care workers need to carefully avoid judgmental approaches that may induce feelings of guilt.

Digestion of the zinc in human milk, cow's milk and a commercial babyfood: some implications for human infant nutrition.

1. The digestion of zinc present in human milk, cow's milk and a commercial babyfood was compared, using the piglet as a model for the human infant. 2. In piglets given human milk the pH of stomach contents was approximately 1 and 0.4 units lower than that of animals given respectively cow's milk and babyfood. The pH values of intestinal contents were approximately neutral and did not vary with the type of feed. 3. Hard casein curds were present throughout the stomachs and small intestines of animals fed on cow's milk or babyfood and between 55 and 70% Zn in these digesta samples were recovered in an insoluble form by centrifugation. In contrast, little solid material was observed in the digesta of animals fed on human milk, and 57 and 93% respectively of the Zn in digesta were recovered in a soluble form in the stomach and small intestine. 4. Soluble fractions prepared by centrifugation of digesta were analysed by filtration on Sephadex G-150. After any of the three feeds, soluble Zn in stomach contents was mainly in a low-molecular-weight form. In intestinal samples, however, Zn was present in low- and high-molecular-weight forms. Whilst there were similar amounts of Zn in the low-molecular-weight form in all samples, approximately three times as much of the total intestinal Zn was in a soluble high-molecular-weight form complexed to proteins in the animals fed on human milk compared with those fed on cow's milk or babyfood. 5. Analysis of protein-bound soluble Zn in intestinal samples on SDS-polyacrylamide gels resulted in a similar pattern of proteins for all feeds. Results indicated that at least some of these proteins were derived from intestinal secretions of the piglet. 6. Some implications of these results in respect of the mode of digestion of Zn and its biological availability to the human infant are discussed.

Breast-feeding lauded by pediatricians

Is mother's milk the optimum in human infant nutrition? Emphatically yes, according to a joint statement recently issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS). The two main advantages of breast-feeding, according to the statement, are the transmission of maternal immunity and the reinforcement of bonding, which is considered necessary for the emotional nurturing of the infant. There is increasing evidence that a newborn infant can acquire certain important elements of host resistance from breast milk while maturation of his own immune system is taking place. The human breast secretes antibodies to some intestinal microorganisms and this may help protect breast-fed infants from enteric infection, the joint statement declares. Recent observation has established the presence of an enteromammary system by which enteric antigenstimulated mucosal plasma cells in the mother migrate to breast tissue where they secrete antibodies or are [themselves] secreted directly into breast

Breast-feeding lauded by pediatricians

Is mother's milk the optimum in human infant nutrition? Emphatically yes, according to a joint statement recently issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS). The two main advantages of breast-feeding, according to the statement, are the transmission of maternal immunity and the reinforcement of "bonding," which is considered necessary for the emotional nurturing of the infant. "There is increasing evidence that a newborn infant can acquire certain important elements of host resistance from breast milk while maturation of his own immune system is taking place. The human breast secretes antibodies to some intestinal microorganisms and this may help protect breast-fed infants from enteric infection," the joint statement declares. "Recent observation has established the presence of an enteromammary system by which enteric antigenstimulated mucosal plasma cells in the mother migrate to breast tissue where they secrete antibodies or are [themselves] secreted directly into breast