Drinking milk while breastfeeding would strengthen the immune system of children, making them less susceptible to allergies.
- Consuming cow’s milk is not a general cure for food allergies.
- The milk consumed by the mother acts as a boost for the child’s immune system.
Breast milk is the optimal source of nutrition for newborns. In particular, it contains certain lipids that play an important role in early childhood weight. A new study, conducted by Swedish researchers and published on November 28 in the journal Nutrientssuggests that women who drink milk while breastfeeding have less allergy-prone children.
Not a general remedy
Researchers at Chalmers University in Gothenburg recorded the eating habits of 500 Swedish mothers who gave birth between 2015 and 2018. These data were collected at the 34th week of pregnancy, one month after birth and four months after birth. the birth. The researchers also looked for biomarkers specific to dairy products through blood tests and by analyzing their breast milk. At the time of blowing out their first candle, doctors checked the children for possible cases of food allergy, eczema and asthma.
“Mothers of healthy one-year-olds consumed more cow’s milk while breastfeeding than mothers of allergic one-year-oldsobserved Mia Stråvik, nutritional scientist and co-author of the study, in a press release published on the university’s website. Although the association is clear, we do not claim that drinking cow’s milk is a general cure for food allergies..”
One “whiplash” for the immune system of the child
Researchers suggest that the beneficial effect of milk consumption for breastfeeding mothers lies in the link between the substances contained in breast milk and the mother’s diet. In a study published on December 16 in the journal Scientific Reports, American researchers have confirmed this link. The researchers provided nursing mothers with a special nutritional diet for 30 to 70 hours. After a two-week washout period, the same woman ate a different diet also provided by the researchers. The diet shaped the profile of breast milk’s oligosaccharides, a type of complex carbohydrate found in breast milk. The modification of oligosaccharides in turn alters the functional capacities of the milk microbiome which influences lifetime metabolic health.
Drinking milk while breastfeeding would help strengthen the child’s immune system according to this study. “During a child’s early development, there is a time window where stimulation of the immune system is necessary for the child to develop a tolerance to different foods.the researchers wrote. A contact at this precise moment with various substances can function as a kind of ‘whiplash‘ for the child’s immune system.”
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