The prevailing wisdom on lipase in breastmilk seems to be that there
really isn't anything mothers can do to reduce levels.  For moms who
express their milk to feed to their babies, excess lipase can be a
pain in the neck, requiring them to scald freshly-expressed milk to
prevent rancid, soapy, metallic, spoiled, or 'off' odors and taste.

Some mothers apparently experience excess-lipase problems during one
lactation but not another.  Also, I have heard that for some mothers
the problem comes and goes during a single lactation.  This seems to
indicate that lipase levels are not fixed for a given mother, but are
subject to some variability.

A Pubmed search using "bile salt lipase human milk" turned up 39
references, some of which are beyond my ability to make sense of.
Here is one intriguing snippet -- in this case, lower lipase levels
don't seem like a good thing:  "Bile salt-dependent lipase showed
constant esterase activity within the lactation stage in privileged
mothers' milk, but decreased by almost 80-90% during the first four
months of lactation in undernourished mothers. The data suggest that
milk from nonprivileged mothers may lose some of its ability to
hydrolyze milk lipid esters, which could also be of consequence to
the infant's normal growth in view of its effect on the esters of the
lipid-soluble vitamins A, E and D."  Lipids. 1991 Feb;26(2):134-8.
Change in bile salt dependent lipase in human breast milk during
extended lactation.  Dupuy P, Sauniere JF, Vis HL, Leclaire M,
Lombardo D.
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=2051895>

So -- I am asking for theorizing, speculation, and just plain
guessing here.  :-)  What could conceivably alter the amount of
lipase in breastmilk?  Is there anything that can be done by mothers
afflicted with too much of it?  Dietary modifications?  Would any
intervention be more likely to affect one kind of lipase or another
(bile-salt-stimulated lipase vs. lipoprotein lipase)?

Anyone know someone who could/would do a study?  I believe there
would be no difficulty recruiting subjects.

Margaret
LLLL
Longmont, CO

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html