Nutrition: Foundations for Life

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What are the advantages of Human Milk?

Unique adaptations.
Only human milk is uniquely adapted to the needs of human infants, and indeed to the individual human infant.  For example, for a baby born prematurely, the mother’s milk has a higher nitrogen content than milk produced by a mother of a term infant.   If a mother and her infant are exposed to a pathogen, such as an enterovirus causing diarrhea,  the mother's milk will contain immunoglobulins to that pathogen and thus provide protection for the infant.  The content of human milk varies from day to day and even from the beginning to the end of a feeding in a manner adapted to the needs of the individual infant.

Ease of digestion. 
One major advantages of human milk is the relative ease of digestion.   Human milk contains 70% whey proteins and 30% casein proteins, a ratio nearly opposite that of bovine (cow's) milk.  The whey protein is generally more easily digested and promotes gastric emptying.  The major whey protein is alpha-lactalbumin. 

Increased immunological protection.
Another major advantage of human milk is increased immunological protection. Studies of breast fed infants consistently show decreased rates of otitis media, gastroenteritis and a variety of other infections; and the effect is dose-dependent.  Lactoferrin, lysozyme and secretory IgA are whey proteins involved in host defense which are not available to infants who are formula-fed.  It is estimated that optimal breast feeding world-wide would save an estimated 1 million lives each year from death by infection.

Other advantages.

  • Decreased risk and severity of allergic-mediated conditions, including asthma

  • Enhanced maternal-infant bonding

  • Improved long-term cognitive and motor skills in the infant

  • More rapid post-partum weight loss and uterine involution following delivery

  • Decreased risk of necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm infants

  • Decreased incidence of urinary tract infections

  • Protection against Crohn's disease, lymphoma, certain subtypes of type I diabetes mellitus

  • Decreased risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer in women who breast feed their infants

  • Economic benefits 

 

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