On Tue, 4 Mar 2003 Megan Allen wrote:

Here's a comparison chart ....  It might be catchy to list where each ingredient comes from on the formula
side (such as the oils, casein, and various additives; you could also say where the DHA & ARA are coming from -- plant algae as the source, not so much like human milk after all!!)

Hi Megan,
    It is certainly important to point out that the proteins are not only in different proportions, but are different ones, and that the fats and sugars are completely different, with - from memory - over 130 oligosaccharides (as one example) in our species-specific human milk, and very few in other milks.  See:

McVeagh P. Is breastfeeding best practice? Med J Aust 2002;177(3):128-129. [See also her references]

Kunz C, Rodrigues-Palmer M, Koletzko B. Nutritional and biochemical properties of human milk: I. General aspects, proteins and carbohydrates. Clinics in Perinatology 1999;26:309=333.

Above all, I would like to stress:  We shouldn't be comparing human milk with artificial baby milks, i.e. foods that are attempts to copy it artificially.  The baseline is human milk; substitute foods fall below that line.  As soon as we start saying "human milk is better than ... has more x or y than ..." we are setting up the substitute "milks" as the standard.  This is the subtle underlying mindset that has contributed to eroding the use of human milk for generations - that human milk has validity (only) in relation to how it compares with its competitors.
   We also need to state that effects of feeding method are calculated on a *population basis*, to do with risks, and that individual children may diverge from the pattern for their group.  So it may be quite true that Mary Jones's baby, artificially fed from birth, has never had a bout of sickness, but Anne Smith's baby, exclusively breastfed, has been sick several times.  But that this proves nothing.  (You can do the same with - say - age related road accident statistics, risks groups, vs individuals in that group.)
     Cheers,
        Virginia

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