This is an excerpt from an article on the benefits of breastmilk, originally
published in Chicago Parent and now at:

http://www.localmom.com/content/CH/0500/05-CH-F1-milk.jsp?city=Chicago


> There is currently some cutting-edge research on breast milk being conducted
> at the liver transplantation program at Loyola University Medical Center in
> Maywood. David Van Thiel, M.D., medical director for liver transplantation,
> realized that liver transplant patients who lacked a common antibody,
> immunoglobulin A (IgA), had an 80 percent death rate after the surgery, four
> times as high as patients who had IgA. Ordinarily, someone who lacks IgA is
> more likely to suffer from recurring bronchial, sinus and gastrointestinal
> infections, but transplant patients who lack IgA are even more vulnerable
> because they must take medications that suppress their immune systems further
> in order to prevent organ rejection.
> Van Thiel decided to try administering mother's milk to these patients. "Since
> human milk contains IgA, I thought that the milk would provide IgA to
> individuals who are deficient and thus protect them," he says. "The results
> have been very, very good." He obtains donated milk for these patients and has
> them drink two ounces every two hours for up to two months after surgery. He
> has published his results in a journal of Hepatology, generating interest in
> colleagues who work with IgA-deficient patients with other types of
> transplants.

-- Jodine Chase

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