Hello,
I've been following this forum for about a month and though I would start participating when I have something to say. Well, yesterday I was listening to lecture by a pediatrician as part of the "school for new parents-to-be" which I am attending.
She mentioned that mother's milk gives more to the child than just nutrients. She briefly mentioned "gene activators" which perform various tasks in the child's body, which got me thinking..
- what exactly does the milk contain
- how does it change in composition from the first milk to a year or even 2 years into breast feeding
- can any human milk perform the same tasks for any child, or is there something unique between each mother and her child
- what effects would drinking human milk bring to an aging adult (if he/she was on it for a year, starting from the first milk - also known as colostrum?)
When I got home I ran into these articles:
Human breast milk suppresses the transcriptional regulation of IL-1-induced NF-B signaling in human intestinal cells
Milk therapy: breast-milk compounds could be a tonic for adult ills
Breast milk contains stem cells
Can Adults Benefit from Drinking Breast Milk?
My guess is human milk probably does more.
- reference linkWhile there is no documented evidence specifically on using breast milk in adults, there is however, a real possibility that breast milk compounds could cure cancer. In 1995, scientists at Lund University used a compound found in breast milk called human alpha-lactalbumin to kill brain tumor cells in a test tube. It seemed to have worked. The same research team, in 2004, used the breast milk compound to destroy many warts caused by HPV, creating the possibility that it could be used to treat cancer caused by HPV.
I also did a quick search on wikipedia to find a list of countries with the highest lifespan average (ref) and a list of countries where milk consumption is highest (ref) and the list matches. Milk probably doesn't have much to do with it as those are also the world's most developed countires and the milk is not human but rather bovine. Also the milk is mostly processed.
Also I wonder:
- which animal's milk has the most similarity to human milk. I red somewhere that goat's milk is closer to us than bovine. There are probably animals with even "better" milk out there..
- which mammalian (breast feeding) animal has the best immune system? Drinking fresh, unprocessed milk from that animal could maybe bring benefits to humans
- which mammalian animal has the longest lifespan? (I found this on Wikipedia: "A Bowhead Whale killed in a hunt was found to be approximately 211 years old (possibly up to 245 years old), the longest lived mammal known") Researching milk composition from mammals who live longer than humans might bring some good ideas..
I thought I would share my thoughts with you guys.. maybe there is someone who can make something out of this:)
