Search

Mother's milk provides a wide variety of health benefits for infants, which is why breast feeding is highly recommended all over the world. This monograph provides details about the nutritional and bioactive properties of human milk, explaining the significance of this natural source of food. Chapter One describes how lactic acid bacteria present in human milk plays a critical role in establishing an immunocompetent microbiome in newborns, inducing multifarious health-promoting activities required to successfully initiate the life process. Chapter Two describes how the fatty acid profile of breastmilk varies according to the needs of the infant, particularly depending on the gestational age of the newborn, but also as a result of the mother's diet. Chapter Three summarizes the current literature on the composition of human milk and its life-course functional effects on health outcomes.

Human milk is considered the biologic norm for feeding the human infant during the first 6 months of life, and it is a preferred food from 6 to 12 months. It is a complex food and exerts its biologic effects well beyond its known nutritional value; however, human milk composition and the complexity of its composition is not wholly known or understood. Thus, defining the composition of milk, as well as both the individual and combined effects of milk components and the volume consumed on infant growth and development, is central to optimizing infant health. Furthermore, defining human milk composition, volume, and the myriad factors that influence milk components is needed for developing future Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) standards for nutrient intakes during the first 12 months of life. Scanning for New Evidence on the Nutrient Content of Human Milk examines the new and emerging evidence describing the nutrient content of human milk as well as the volume of milk consumed, both of which are needed to understand nutrient consumption by healthy breastfed infants. An evidence scan approach was used to summarize the status of the published literature on the nutrient content of human milk and to identify new evidence on nutrients in human milk that could inform the need for a systematic review as a component of the DRI process.

Considerable advances have been made in science in order to understand the varied mixture of bioactive components in human milk. The 94th Nestlé Nutrition Institute Workshop was designed to provide a comprehensive overview of the latest findings in human milk research and its potential to modulate mucosal immunity, the microbiome, and its impact on the neonate. The publication provides a balanced state-of-the-art update on the current knowledge about milk, mucosal immunity, and the microbiome as well as their impact on breastfeeding in mammalian neonates. The first part reviews data on the immunology of milk and lactation from a historical perspective to the latest scientific findings. The second part discusses the microbiology of human milk and lactation in detail, with a focus on premature infants and necrotizing enterocolitis. And finally, in the third part, light is shed on the protective factors in human milk and their role in influencing the neonate's immune system. Important new insights will provide great scientific support for all people seeking a deeper understanding of human milk and its immunological properties and will enlarge the knowledge of those who have already specialized in human milk research.

Milk is the one food that sustains life and promotes growth in all newborn mammals, including the human infant. By its very nature, milk is nutritious. Despite this, it has received surprisingly little attention from those interested in the cultural impact of food. In this fascinating volume, Stuart Patton convincingly argues that milk has become of such importance and has so many health and cultural implications that everyone should have a basic understanding of it. This book provides this much-needed introduction. Patton's approach to his subject is comprehensive. He begins with how milk is made in the lactating cell, and proceeds to the basics of cheese making and ice cream manufacture. He also gives extensive consideration to human milk, including breasts, lactation, and infant feeding. Pro and con arguments about the healthfulness of cows'milk are discussed at length and with documentation. Patton explores the growing gap between the public's impressions of milk, and known facts about milk and dairy foods. He argues that the layperson's understanding of milk has deteriorated as a result of propaganda from activists anxious to destroy milk's favorable image, misinformation in the media, and scare implications from medical research hypotheses.

Protein plays a vital role in growth and development and is able to'program'healthy growth by influencing gene methylation for positive long-term health outcomes. The understanding of these mechanisms is critical to support and improve the health of future generations in both the short and long term.The first part of this book reviews the role of hydrolyzed proteins in infant feeding and the evidence-based benefits of their use in non-breastfed infants at risk of allergy and in infants with functional gastrointestinal disorders. The second part focuses on human milk and its potential alternatives in the feeding of healthy term infants. The final section is dedicated to preterm infants, their nutrition needs, and physiological capacities to ingest adequate amounts of protein for appropriate growth and development. Presenting the latest scientific findings on protein in early nutrition, this publication provides essential reading for pediatricians and researchers alike.

Everything you ever wanted to know about the substance that binds all mammals together.After drawing its first breath, every newborn mammal turns his or her complete attention to obtaining milk. This primal act was once thought to stem from a basic fact: milk provides the initial source of calories and nutrients for all mammalian young. But it turns out that milk is a much more complicated biochemical cocktail and provides benefits beyond nutrition. In this fascinating book, biologists Michael L. Power and Jay Schulkin reveal this liquid's evolutionary history and show how its ingredients have changed over many millions of years to become a potent elixir. Power and Schulkin walk readers through the early origins of the mammary gland and describe the incredible diversification of milk among the various mammalian lineages. After revealing the roots of lactation, the authors describe the substances that naturally occur in milk and discuss their biological functions. They reveal that mothers pass along numerous biochemical signals to their babies through milk. The authors explain how milk boosts an infant's immune system, affects an infant's metabolism and physiology, and helps inoculate and feed the baby's gut microbiome. Throughout the book, the authors weave in stories from studies of other species, explaining how comparative research sheds light on human lactation. The authors then turn their attention to the fascinating topic of cross-species milk consumption—something only practiced by certain humans who evolved an ability to retain lactase synthesis into adulthood. The first book to discuss milk from a comparative and evolutionary perspective, Power and Schulkin's masterpiece reveals the rich biological story of the common thread that connects all mammals.

Breast-Feeding: Early Influences on Later Health is a new book which draws together areas of research in early lifel programming of adult health, with a unique focus on the post-natal period in terms of early life programming particularly the extent to which differences in infant feeding practices can lay an indelible imprint on metabolism and behaviour, and hence affect later function and risk of disease. This is an area where there is much less information currently available than there is for fetal programming, and the book raises many new questions and highlights numerous areas where further research is needed. The book chapters are arranged in three core sections: Chapters 1-4 lay down some of the basic biology of early life development; Chapters 5-9 examine how breast-milk and breast-feeding might ‘programme'these processes by acting as modulators of development; Chapters 10-17 examine the epidemiological evidence that such effects do indeed exist. In addition the book includes unique chapters on the Evolution of human lactation and complementary feeding, The Macy-György Prize Lecture ‘My Milky Way', updates on HIV and Breast-Feeding and on Early breastfeeding cessation and infant mortality in low-income countries, and measuring trace immune factors in human milk, all important topics that have such a critical impact on child health and survival in many countries.