What is in Breast Milk?
Breast Milk has long been a critical food source for humans and other mammals. Human breast milk is highly complex and contains over a hundred thousand different components, which play a significant part in meeting the nutrition and developing disease resistance in babies. The following list is only a portion of the more significant portions of breast milk that have been discovered so far.
Immunoglobulins: think antibodies - they are protective proteins that bind to and help destroy harmful, invading organisms such as bacteria and viruses. Many versions of immunoglobulins reside in human milk with the highest concentration found in colostrum, the first milk a mother’s body produces. However, immunoglobulin levels do not decline when the milk changes but remain stable as the mother continues to pass on disease resistance to her child.
Lactoferrin: a protein that limits the availability of iron to certain bacteria in the intestines, and encourages other healthy bacteria to thrive. It has an antibiotic effect on certain potentially harmful bacteria such as Staphylococci and E. coli. Lactoferrin is found in the highest concentrations in colostrum, but persists in breast milk throughout the entire first year of breastfeeding.
Lysozyme: a powerful digestive enzyme that is found in breast milk at 50 times the concentration than in any formula. It destroys harmful bacteria and helps influence the balance of beneficial bacteria that inhabit the intestinal tract.
Bifidus Factor: helpful bacteria that help prevent the growth of disease-causing bacteria and parasites. Breast milk-fed infants have a level of Lactobacillus that is typically 10 times greater than that of formula-fed infants.
DHA & ARA: An omega fatty acids, DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) is a major building block for brain gray matter of the brain and in the retina of the eye. DHA accumulates in the brain over the first two years of life. .
Long-chain Sugars: Human breast milk contains a high concentration certain types of sugars called oligosaccharides. These types of sugars are thought to affect the delicate composition of bacteria in the baby’s gut. Oligosaccharides block the adherence of harmful organisms to epithelial cells helping to prevent infections. These sugars are thought to be part of the reason why breastfed babies have different gut bacteria than non-breastfed babies.
