Hi, everyone. While searching Medline for something else, I came
across this gem which started me thinking, and wanted to ask you-
all if anyone is familiar with this article and/or has further
thoughts to share....
Mennella JA and Beauchamp GK. Maternal diet alters the sensory
qualities of human milk and the nursling's behavior. Pediatrics
88:737-44, 1991.
The brackets are mine. The abstract reads: "Although the majority
of human infants are breast-fed for the first few months of life
[!!!!], there is a paucity of information regarding the sensory
qualities of human milk and how these qualities are affected by
maternal diet. The present study investigated the effects of
garlic ingestion by the mother on the odor of her breast milk and
the suckling behavior of her infant. Evaluation of the milk
samples by a sensory panel revealed garlic ingestion
significantly and consistently increased the perceived intensity
of the milk odor; this increase in odor intensity was not
apparent 1 hour after ingestion, peaking in strength 2 hours
after ingestion, and decreased thereafter. That the nursling
detected these changes in mother's milk is suggested by the
finding that infants were attached to the breast [??] for longer
periods of time and sucked more [?!] when the milk smelled like
garlic. There was a tendency for infants to ingest more milk as
well[?!]; the lack of a significant effect may be due to the
inherent limitations on the total amount of milk available to the
infant[??]."
Since I was in the middle of the something else, I haven't had a
chance to look up the article yet, but wanted to ask y'all
anyhow. I think that we are more or less agreed that a newborn
likes HIS mom's milk since he's familiar with the particular
taste and odor from the amniotic fluid. Did the experimental moms
in this study habitually eat garlic, or did the babies suddenly
decide that this NEW garlicky milk was great? Herbalists tell us
how healthy garlic is, cardiologists are interested in it, so is
this possibly another case of babies being incredibly smarter
than we are? Another question: *IF* this is true - that random
babies really dig garlicky milk - can we take advantage of this
to increase effective sucking and milk removal (see brackets
above)?
Looking forward to responses. Judy Knopf, getting sidetracked in
the medical library, in Beer Sheva, Israel
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