Someone asked for a reference for the milk fat comment I made (re; P.
Hartmann's research).
I went to PubMed, at http://www4.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/, and put in
Hartmann and breastfeeding and found:
Exp Physiol 1993 Nov;78(6):741-55
Degree of breast emptying explains changes in the fat content, but not
fatty acid composition, of human milk. Daly SE, Di Rosso A, Owens
RA, Hartmann PE
Department of Biochemistry, University of Western
Australia, Nedlands. We compared within and between breastfeed
changes in milk fat to short-term rates of milk synthesis and degree of
breast emptying (measured using the Computerized Breast Measurement
system) over two 24 h periods for five lactating mothers. The fat content
(f) of fore and hind milk samples increased more steeply as the breast
was progressively emptied by the infant (degree of emptying, d, range
0-1; f = 21.59 + 9.38d + 70.99d2; P < 0.0001; r2 =
0.68; n = 154). For the nine individual breasts, between 41-95% of
the variance of the fat content of milk was explained by degree of
breast emptying. We argue that this relationship explains
differences in the circadian rhythm of the fat content of milk and
allows the accurate calculation of the average fat content of milk consumed
by infants (37-66 g/l for the nine individual breasts). The fatty acid
composition of the fore and hind milk samples was
determined for four of the mothers. We observed within and
between breastfeed variability in the relative proportions of the seven
major fatty acids of milk fat and these changes are discussed with
reference to the control of fat synthesis in the human mammary
gland. PMID: 8311942, UI: 94145622 .
There were many other Hartmann references that came up as well. As I
understand it, Dr. Hartmann indicated that by his research evidence, (and I
paraphrase here, because the research is complex and I am no research
expert..hence I suggest going to the original source)...that some hind milk
is lower in fat that the fore milk at another time of day, in the same
mother. Hind milk does not necessarily mean high fat. Fat content is
regulated by the relative emptiness of the breast.
Anyone who has a chance to hear Dr. Hartmann speak should take the chance.
He is a lovely man, humble and very intelligent, and willing to explain
things in great detail. His information was new for me, and challenged what
I had thought to be true. Good for my brain.
Kathleen
Kathleen B. Bruce, BSN, IBCLC co-owner Lactnet, Indep. Consultant
mailto:[log in to unmask]
http://homepages.together.net/~kbruce/kbblact.html
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