In the Mother's Milk

The mother's remains an irreplaceable food for newborn children up to a year. But often it can be as unsafe as the mother's health state.

HALF a decade ago, childhood obesity alarmed health authorities around the world as it emerged as an epidemic.

Rapidly increasing rates of youths suffering from Type 2 (insulin-dependent) diabetes had been observed. Last year, the Canadian Diabetes Association, Canadian Foundation for Dietetic Research, and Canadian Institutes of Health Research conducted a study attempting to determine how much of it can be due to the mother’s milk. Scientists believe that the human breast milk may hold some key in understanding this development as it is the preferred food during infancy. It contains an array of bioactive compounds, including metabolic compounds. Sometime this year or next the result of this study may provide us the answer.

What are known so far about the human mother’s milk can be considered educational already, both to upcoming mothers and to those who work as child caregivers.

First, breastfeeding is protective against... [Read more]

This article appears in SunStar Cebu newspaper on 10 August 2011

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