Breast
milk is commonly related to infants of an extremely early age; however, as anomalous
as it may sound, this dairy product may help grown-ups as well—mainly adults
whose inner microorganisms, which contribute to the immunological system, have
been compromised—provided the proteins, minerals and enzymes that it contains.
A
kind of protein that is pretty plentiful in human milk is CD14, which works at
the moment in which the immunological system responds at pathogen agents in the
intestines; in addition, a group of researchers from Nestlé believe that this
protein can help those people who suffer from a type of bowel inflammatory syndrome
known as Crohn’s disease.
The
laws in the United States forbid putting transgenic milk on the market;
nonetheless, researchers are working in the north-eastern area of Brazil along
with the government of that country, testing this milk to find a cure for the
widespread child diarrhoea originated by a bacterium named Escherichia Coli that has caused up to the ten percent of infant
mortality.
There is an
enzyme that is present not only in fluids such as tears and saliva, but it is also—not
so abundantly—in human milk: this is lysozyme. This enzyme may be exploited for
medical purposes, given that it is known as a particle able to destroy E. Coli in pigs and mice; besides,
scientists from the University of California, Davis have transported the human
gene of this enzyme to goats for hasting its production.
Another constituent
of breast milk that can help to protect against E. Coli and diseases such as Shigella
and Salmonella is lactoferrin, a
protein that connects particles of iron. Treatments with this protein have been
proven on pigs, which immunological system is similar to ours, and results show
that lactoferrin can provide an improvement in immune systems of children and
elderly or chronically ill people.
Provided the benefits that human milk carries for both infant and adult immunological system, would this be the most suitable alternative for giving it a boost or there should be another way of protecting our bodies? Let's consider that human milk is aimed to babies.
Some time ago I read about a restaurant in London that sells ice cream made with breast milk. Maybe it is pretty different from what you are presenting because in this case, the restaurant owners do not focus on the health benefits of breast milk: they're just focused on creating new flavors and making money, obviously.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I've read a lot about the benefits of breast milk, and one thing that I read is that it contains cells and hormones that formula feed does not provide. These cells and hormones help our bodies to fight against lots of illnesses, such as diarrhoea, respiratory infections and even diabetes.
I think that this could be a healthy and natural way to fight against many illnesses that exist out there, although I'm sure that there are going to be lots of people saying that it is unnatural and even disgusting. How can it be disgusting if all of us got proteins, vitamins and even water from our own mother's milk?
Yes, I get your point there; restaurants should not only focus on flavour and texture, but also on how healthy can their course be. Appearances are not everything and this is not the exception to the rule; your dinner might have been delicious, yet you could have eaten a lot of rubbish that may get you sick in a couple of hours.
DeleteAbout the formula, I can say that I agree as well, given that it is impossible to make an exact copy of what nature provides us. (By the way, I was not aware of the diabetes part; that is quite interesting!)
Finally, I can assure that you are right when you say that breast milk is not something disgusting, given that is something that--almost--every person receives from the moment of birth. It may be a little bit awkward, though, provided the fact that this is usually associated to babies and they may think of the milk coming from some woman's breast. However, these people may not be considering where our dairy products come from!