>"don't you think that all the
>antibodies and white blood cells  make a difference?"  She replied that she
>doesn't believe that they make it through the gut and that it's never been
>proven that they do.

Does she not realize that many pathogenic organisms attack the baby via its
gut??  For example, breast milk has specific affinities for the virus that
causes cholera.  So if you are exposed to cholera, and you have cholera
viruses in your gut, the breast milk grabs them and takes them out through
your anus *before* they have time to burrow through your gut wall and infect
you.  The breast milk also sets the stage for the good bacteria to flourish
in your gut and outcompete the bad bacteria, such as certain strains of E.
coli which can make you very sick or even be fatal.  Give her a copy of Dr.
Jack Newman's Scientific American article.  It eloquently and clearly
explains HOW breast milk protects babies.

Kathy D.
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