What do you think about this????  They are always trying to find something
wrong with breast milk!!!!!!!!

>Subject: Article about smoking and breastmilk
>Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1998 15:30:33 -0400
>
>Hi Patti,
>
>I thought you might be interested in this.
>
>Wednesday August 19 2:23 PM EDT
>
>Lower vitamin C in smokers' breast milk
>
>NEW YORK, Aug 19 (Reuters) -- Pregnant women who smoke have lower levels of
>vitamin C in their breast milk, which may affect the health of their baby, a
>study reports.
>
>``Cigarette smoking is a source of oxidant stress in pregnant women,
>suggesting that it could be a source of the same in infants exposed in (the
>uterus),'' write lead author Dr. Rosa M. Ortega of the Department of
>Nutrition at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain, and
>colleagues.
>
>The team suggests that vitamin C deficiency in a newborn ''may lead to
>inadequate antioxidant defenses,'' and that the level of antioxidants such
>as vitamin C in breast milk ''probably defines the degree of protection it
>can offer'' against the negative effects of normal metabolic processes.
>
>Their study, published in the current issue of the Journal of the American
>College of Nutrition,
>examined differences in vitamin C status in the blood and milk of smoking
>and nonsmoking
>women in their third trimester of pregnancy.
>
>The 16 smoking and 41 nonsmoking women in the study kept a food record for 5
>days and
>recorded vitamin C intake from dietary supplements. Researchers measured
>vitamin C levels in the blood and in transition milk (days 13 and 14 of
>lactation), and mature milk (day 40 of
>lactation). The subjects also filled out a questionnaire on their smoking
>habits during
>pregnancy.
>
>According to the study results, nonsmokers ``showed significantly greater
>vitamin C levels in
>both transition and mature milk.'' Further, the more cigarettes a woman
>smoked during
>pregnancy, the lower the vitamin C levels found in her transition and mature
>milk.
>
>Researchers also found that the amount of vitamin C consumed by smokers
>tended to fall short of recommendations and that smokers tended to eat fewer
>fruits and vegetables than
>nonsmokers. However, there was no difference in the amount of vitamin C in
>the blood of the
>two groups.
>
>``Pregnant smokers require special attention, and an increase in their
>consumption of fruit and
>vegetables is recommended,'' the authors conclude.
>
>SOURCE: Journal of the American College of Nutrition 1998;17:379-384.
>
Patti Carroll, RN, IBCLC
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