Breast milk is one of the body fluids less studied by science so far. Half a century ago, scientists revealed basic information about its composition, but today, thanks to technological advances, we can learn more and more about this substance that is much more than food for the baby. Breast milk is "smart."
It holds the title of being nothing less than "the first functional food of nature." Under that title, an interesting study published in the journal Science has been developed that delves into the composition of breast milk and the benefits it brings to the baby.
Breast milk, much more than food
We know many things about breast milk. What is a "live" food that adapts to the needs of the baby as it grows. That even changes consistency and color in the same shot. It contains all the nutrients that the baby needs to feed exclusively up to six months, and supplemented with solid food for at least two years of life. That protects the bacterial flora of the baby's stomach and that gives him immunity against allergies and diseases ... And so we could continue to name benefits of all kinds, and not one against.
At first glance, breast milk is a mixture of fats, proteins and sugars capable of feeding the newborn, but there is much more. For her too Immune system cells circulate to the mother that protect the baby, regenerative stem cells and thousands of bioactive molecules.
These bioactive molecules protect against infections, control inflammations, stimulate the immune system and organ development, and in the case of oligosaccharides, they shape the newborn microbiome.
Microbiome is a relatively new concept that is used to define the colony of microorganisms present in a part of the body, in this case in the baby's intestine.
Powerful bacteria
Recent studies have revealed to us that breast milk contains more than 700 bacteria, a striking amount that even the researchers themselves did not expect to find. However, the function that each one fulfills is a mystery. There is still much to investigate about this "liquid gold."
What has been known is that breast milk carries complex carbohydrates called oligosaccharides (exclusive of breast milk), proteins and inactive enzymes.
When you take the baby and get to the stomach you are activated and the beneficial peptides (molecules formed by the union of several amino acids), which help the immune system, proteins.
Once in the intestine, oligosaccharides promote the growth of good bacteria present in it, called bifidobacteria. In addition, together with the peptides they help clean the intestine of "bad" bacteria that could make the baby sick.
This is the case of neonatal necrotizing enteroclitis (NNS), a disease that mainly affects premature babies with a mortality of 25%, whose risk of suffering it It is reduced three times in babies who drink breast milk.
Research on breast milk
The study of breast milk has been ignored for years because it is "not very modern", but now science looks at it with interest as an object of study.
In the 1950s, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Kuhn and the famous pediatrician Paul György found that the key to breast milk was found in the oligosaccharides, capable of promoting the growth of microbes called bifidobacteria.
But the investigations stopped. Meanwhile, scientists continued to work on techniques capable of deciphering the complexity of oligosaccharides.
Half a century later, in 2006 a UC Davis team, led by food chemist Bruce German, again focused on the connection between breast milk and the microbiome.
They began working on the identification of milk bacteria and managed to isolate and sequence the Bifidobacterium longum biovar infantis, which would contain the genes necessary for milk oligosaccharides to be digested.
Oligosaccharides appear to be the key ingredient in breast milk. In fact, nutritionist Lars Bode of UC San Diego says that "the first company that manages to introduce an oligosaccharide into its product will make a difference."
Still, no artificial milk will get the "intelligence" of breast milk. It is a natural substance, a live food It mutates, transforms and adapts to what the baby needs at all times. That, there will be nothing that can overcome it.
