Carolyn,

I could not get the link to work. Plus usually, one has to be a member of whatever group the journal is for, in order to see more than the abstract on Wiley without paying a hefty price for it. Or have institutional ties with a university library.



I did not mean to imply that any of the journals themselves were "bogus". I tried my best to follow the "as yet phantom study" alluded to, by googling the name in reference #2, and was led "circularly" only to other articles that quoted that same article, and was not led to anything at all that was about breastmilk or breastmilk research implied by this article.



I would be very, very interested to find any actual "study" as no matter how carefully I read the Web MD article, no "prestigious institution" was named as carrying out such a study, and no specific study on breastmilk protein/fat composition was quoted. 



Obviously, I have failed to articulate my point clearly enough, as the lactnet answers thus far have missed my point, relying, it seems, mainly on logic to interpret my words. I was unable to get any such meaning out of the article such as that boys get more protein and fat by taking more milk, which seems to be the Lactnetters' interpretations thus far. That would not seem surprising  due to well-known principles of supply and demand, and FIL etc. I agree with some private answers that every mother's milk is offering different antibodies because of the different immunities a particular mother may have. I have heard that point made by various speakers/writers that the antibody composition of each mother's milk is likely to be different than that of another mother who has not had those particular diseases or immunizations.

 

That, of course, would mean that the actual % of protein and fat in a given volume of milk would still be in the known range for human mammals, not in a range somewhat closer to the end of the chart, to milk of whales and seals, which do have, if I remember, at least a much greater % of fat per a specific volume of milk.



I may be being blind in my interpretation, but the meaning I got out of the WebMD article is this:

 
1) "They" were trying to imply that the milk making cells of a particular mother (each individual one of which. as we all know, makes complete milk, as there are no specific cells to make just milk fat, or just milk proteins or just milk carbohydrates) 


2) actually produce a different milk with an actual larger percentage of protein and fat for their sons, 


3) than the milk producing cells that a different placenta may stimulate in the breasts of the same mothers when they have daughters. 


4)"Going long" for some such meaning, some might infer the meaning that testosterone from a boy in utero might theoretically make a trans-placental difference in the molecular/hormonal directions for formation of new milk-making cells in the alveoli during a different pregnancy (which might ultimately then even seem to figure prominently into breast cancer research!!!). 


5) But nowhere in the WebMD article did I see anything I could remotely interpret that way, nor any such actual study that purported to find any such connection.


No, that is not the meaning I extracted from the clever "disinformation" I read in the article. I am curious whether any MD's on the list get the same meaning I've articulaed above, and if so, would be willing to give that feedback to WebMD. 


In the long, long run, I can imagine this cleverly convoluted disinformation ultimately devolving back into the old "Your milk is too weak" argument whereby so many mothers in the past century were "guilted" into switching completely to formula, which of course, might be consistent with Nestle's part in the publicizing of this "dysinformation"!!


I am really not trying to be difficult, folks. If I am being dense (and prejudiced), I really would like to see that specific research article that seems to be a phantom to me at this moment.


K. Jean Cotterman RNC-E, IBCLC
WIC Volunteer LC, Dayton OH

 

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