Jennifer Tow and 'katherine in atl' have both posted on the fat composition
in maternal diet, and there is a growing body of research indicating that
the ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 is of key importance.

Tuesday I was lucky enough to hear Lars Åke Hanson lecture for three hours
(after three other talks by three other speakers, on differential diagnosis
of nipple soreness, why babies cry, and baby-wearing - a great day!!) on the
immunobiology of mother's milk.  He mentioned the diverging findings on
breastfeeding and development of allergies and asthma, and said it is quite
possible that the answer lies in the omega 6/omega 3 ratio.  It doesn't help
to increase omega 3 when you have no idea what the omega 6 level is.  You
need to adjust the ratio.  In our diets with abundant fat, most of it not
the best kinds, we would need more cod liver oil than anyone could stomach
if we were to tip the ratio in a favorable direction.  DHA is one of the
omega 3 fatty acids.  There are more, and as with any nutrient, simply
increasing one without knowing enough about how it occurs naturally and what
effect the naturally accompanying nutrients have on its uptake by the body,
is not likely to produce the cure-all results that supplement manufacturers
would have us believe.

Hanson mentioned an article by Svensson et al now in press, to be published
this year in Acta Paediatrica, on just this topic.  He said (grossly
oversimplified by me here) that mothers with an unfavorable omega 6/omega 3
ratio in their blood end up with children with more allergies than if the
ratio is good.  The ratio of fatty acids in the maternal diet affects the
gut flora of the mother and this in turn affects the child's immune system's
ability to distinguish between bacteria and food.

Maternal diet is reflected in breastmilk's fatty acid composition, so it
will also influence the gut flora of the child.  It should really go without
saying that our milk is no better or worse than we are.  Regardless of how
badly we eat, our milk is still so far above and beyond what can be produced
commercially from the milk of other species that there is no contest.  That
should not stop us from seeking to improve anyone's diet.

In Europe where there is a huge surplus of olives and olive oil, the spin
doctors for the olive growers are always trying to find ways to get us to
consume more of it.  I am constantly running into otherwise well-informed
adults who believe that if they don't like cod liver oil they can just take
a spoonful of olive oil with their breakfast instead.  They think it has
omega-3.  It doesn't.  (Some people even think it has fewer calories per
gram than other fat - also not true!)  A vegan diet provides no DHA or
omega-3 either.  Our bodies can synthesize omega 3's given enough of the
other essential fatty acids, particularly linolenic.  It seems that infants
lack the full ability to synthesize them, and need to get it in their diet,
and lo! breastmilk provides it, as long as the maternal diet allows it to.

BTW, Lars Åke Hanson has just published a book on the immunobiology of human
milk.  (ISBN 0 9729583 0 4)  It costs $30 and I have no economic interest in
it.  He has been researching the topic since before I was born, and is still
just as excited about it as he always has been.  Nice quote from his talk:
'Breastfeeding exists because it is necessary.'

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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