We recently have purchased a  (hugely expensive) machine for our milk bank
in Austin that is going to allow for some very interesting research
possibilites.  It is called a Milk-o-scan, and is a machine that does
readouts on the nutrient content of milk.  Normally it's a machine used in
the dairy industry, but ours will be re-calibrated to analyse human milk.
The idea is that every batch of milk we process will be labeled, so that
each bottle will have number of grams of protein, nitrogen, number of
calories, etc.  This will remove a significant barrier that always seems to
worry neonatologists who have to make decisions about the nutrient needs of
micro-preemies and who fear that human milk can't meet those needs.  Now
they can just read the label.  I suspect we will see that there are
significant diff. in the fat content, and it is, as Cathy Fetherston
suggests, an interesting area for exploration.

The science of lactation is just fascinating.  I keep having to alter my
mind set to stay up with the new things the research is teaching us, and I
really want to second Linda Smith's excellent post reminding us to 'do our
homework.'  I set myself the task of reading and thinking about several new
research articles each week.  And I review each JHL cover-to-cover.  While
experience helps us with the art, if we don't keep up with the science, we
are functioning primarily out of  a belief system.  That sabotages our
credibility as a profession.

Barbara Wilson-Clay BSEd, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates
http://www.lactnews.com

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