One more for our side!
Cynthia D. Payne, IBCLC
In the Berkshires of western Massachusetts
--------------------------------------------------------------

Study finds another helpful effect of breast milk
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Women being urged to breastfeed their babies
got another reason this week -- researchers said they found breast milk
stimulates the immune system in a way not seen before.

They said breast milk is rich in a kind of protein called soluble CD14, which
in turn stimulates the development of B cells. B cells are immune cells made
in the bone marrow and key to the production of antibodies.

"We have known for 100 years of the benefits of breast feeding," Dr. Michael
Julius of the University of Toronto and the Toronto Hospital, who led the
study, said in a telephone interview.

"Over the last decades the scientific basis for this conventional wisdom has
increased due to our identification of many of the elements of breast milk
that mediate all these good things. In addition to being full of nutrients,
in addition to being full of growth factors, it is full of things that
protect the newborn."

For instance, doctors knew that nursing mothers could pass on antibodies to
their babies. Antibodies are the protein flags of the immune system -- they
identify and home in on invaders such as bacteria and viruses, flagging them
for immune cells to attack.

The key to their success is their diversity. The more different kinds of
antibodies the body has, the higher the number of enemies it can fight off.

Researchers had known about soluble CD14 but all its functions were not
apparent, Julius said.

"This is the first demonstration of this biological activity of the molecule
and the fact that it is so extraordinarily enriched in mammary secretions,"
he said.

"Because it is able to directly activate B cells, it provides active
protection to the baby. We imagine it functions to kick-start the baby's
immune system."

The researchers, who included teams at the University of Western Ontario,
Osaka University, and GEMMA Biotechnology Inc. in Toronto, did their tests on
mice.

Writing in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, they said CD14 caused the B cells from the mice to differentiate --
to grow into different types.

Later tests showed that milk and colostrum -- the first rich secretions from
a mother's milk glands -- was rich in CD14. This was true of both cows and
people, they found.

Advocates of breastfeeding say breastfed babies are more intelligent and
healthier than babies fed bottled milk. Scientific studies tend to support
this, although the differences between breast and bottle-fed babies are
subtle.

16:51 01-18-01

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