Dear all:  
Once every few months I actually have time to glimpse the New York Times Sunday Magazine 
section.  A few years back I read about the transgenic goats producing human milk and lo and 
behold, here we are - but a small step away from creating pet nurses.  I suppose I should submit a 
patent and get moving with some investors. : )    

So, this week's article has an interesting theory about viruses contributing to obesity.  Apparently 
there is an adenovirus that increases the risk of obesity.  Our gut flora are extremely important in 
nutrient absorption and anything that tampers with that can influence what we absorb.  So, who 
knows if they will find that the gut flora of the breastfed infant actually reduces the risk of this 
virus contributing to obesity?  

Clearly, obesity is a multifactorial situation and the NY Times magazine section also did an article 
many years back on the increase in the use of corn for livestock and how this damages their guts 
to the point that they must be put on antibiotics for their brief lives or they die quickly.  Corn 
syrup is now ubiquitous in many foods that were not nearly as sweetened in years past --- such 
as the commercially processed yogurts that used to be sour and now taste like dessert to me.

On another front in our busy metropolis in Manhattan - I didn't notice any mention on Lactnet or 
other sources of a news item that my cousin heard on some local news channel a few weeks back.  
She said that the NYPD had been handing out tickets on the subway to nursing mothers.  She 
mentioned this the same day that the liquids ban went into effect and I was also standing on a 
subway platform and some poor old homeless guy who should have been relaxing in an assisted 
living center instead of trying to eek out his existence in the tunnels of the subway was trying to 
pull down his pants for --- well, you can guess.  He was having a lot of trouble getting his pants 
down and I didn't spot any NYPD officer to help him out before my train came.  I can't imagine why 
the NYPD didn't have better things to do than harrass nursing mothers.

Best, Susan

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