A Lactnet member sent me some info on another way of assessing
intake. I suggested she posted to the list, but she hasn't so it
looks like she  wants to remain anonymous. Don't know why.

The method is absolutely new to me; I have never heard of it. It is
called Deuterium Kinetics, and there are at least a couple of papers
on it that I found easily with a search on the Web. Try this one, for
example:

http://www.cih.uib.no/journals/EJHD/ejhd-v13-n3/ejhd13-3-page12.htm

It's done by giving mothers an oral dose of D2O (deuterium oxide) and
then doing maternal and infant saliva samples, and milk samples. It's
very technical, especially for poor ol' me who struggled with
anything that took place in a lab at school, and I really can't
summarise it - you'll just have to read it yourselves : )

The authors say the method is quick, easy, cheap and better than
test-weighing for accuracy and convenience 'in the field'.

Regular readers will know what I feel about the over-use of test
weighing;  I have no opinion on Deuterium Kinetics, especially as I
don't really understand it, except to say I can imagine reseach
situations where it could be useful.

Would love to know if I am the only one who had never heard of it : )

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne UK

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