Norma Ritter writes:

I am most concerned about the mothers who use bottles of EBM because they
>feel uncomfortable about nursing in public. As a society, we have failed
>these women. We have given them a clear message that nursing is something
>that is done only in private. I wonder how much those beautiful posters of
>elegant, svelte young mothers in exquisite lace negligees, nursing in
>beautifully appointed bedrooms, contribute to this mind-set? How much of a
>coincidence is it that these images are (largely) the brainchildren of
>breastpump companies?

Most of these images come from the breastfeeding literature published by the
formula companies, not the pump companies.

Naomi Bar-Yam writes:

>2.  Is it possible that allergies can be passed from one generation to the
>next through breastmilk.  If a mother was formula fed and
>consequently has al>lergies, would this immune deficiency be passed on
>to her children through her breastmilk?

Allergies aren't an immune deficiency, but rather an inappropriately
over-active immune response.  It isn't something the mother is deficient in,
and so cannot be transmitted through breast milk.

>3. Does any of this hold true for lactose intolerance as opposed to
>allergies or are they basically the same thing?

Lactose intolerance is due to lack of the enzyme lactase in the gut.  All
humans have the gene that produces the enzyme lactase.  This gene "turns
off" in middle-late childhood in most people in the world.  It only stays
turned on in people descended from populations with a long history of
dairying (European, some West Africans, some East Africans), presumably to
allow them to utilize animal milk as a constituent of the adult diet.
Before the domestication of animals some 6-8,000 years ago, people never had
milk in their diets once they had been weaned, so had no need for lactase.

Some people develop secondary lactase deficiency as adults due to other
problems (not their gene turning off in the normal way).  Also, there is a
huge amount of variation in symptoms in people without lactase -- some are
upset by any lactose in the diet, others only by a big stress like a glass
of milk *and* a bowl of ice cream.

Many people are allergic to the protein in cows' milk, but the lactose
doesn't cause them problems.

Thus, lactose intolerance is not an allergy.


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Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.                         email: [log in to unmask]
Anthropology Department                               phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University                                    fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX  77843-4352