Steingraber's lament about dioxin is full of problems.
I'd like to see the research showing that fat cells from the liver and
abdominal fat apron are mobilized into breast milk IF the mother is eating
to meet her hunger cues during lactation.
My understanding is that mothers lay down fat reserves *during pregnancy* to
support the lactation, and that those fat reserves are there for use ONLY IF
the mother doesn't eat enough after the baby is born. So mothers who eat
plenty after the baby is born do not mobilize stored fat that was laid down
during pregnancy, let alone stored fat that was laid down during childhood.
This is why so many women have trouble losing their pregnancy weight gain
post-partum. It is a great system for insuring that there is enough fat for
breast milk production even during times of famine, drought, crop-failure,
etc. In today's western world, where most women have plenty to eat, that
pregnancy fat is not mobilized during lactation for most women.
Also, consider this, any time during your life when you lose a lot of
weight, you mobilize the fat stores laid down up to that point. Example:
when I left the US for six months of research in Mali in June of 1989, I
weighed about 175 pounds. When I returned to the US in December of 1989, I
weighed 132 pounds. At 5'9" of height, that meant I had lost almost all my
body fat. I had no breasts. You could clearly see all my ribs and my
collarbones. My rings fell off my fingers and my watch was way too big.
Even my shoes were too big. Thus, I had purged my body of all accumulated
fat (and therefore dioxins) prior to getting pregnant with and breastfeeding
my youngest. I gained weight in 1990 before I got pregnant with him (up to
175 again) and during the pregnancy (up to 199). I never lost any of that
weight until chemotherapy in 1999, where I went back and forth between 200
and 185 four different times. I'm hovering around 200 pounds, as I type.
That means no body fat was mobilized during Alexander's 5.5 years of
breastfeeding, from 1991 to 1996. So I guess that means he got very little
or NO dioxin in my breast milk.
Another example is my daughter Miranda, who was 9 years old when she
accompanied me to Mali in 1989. She weighed a pudgy 95 pounds when we left
for Mali, and weighed a skeletal 65 pounds when we returned six months
later, thanks in large part to a nasty bout of malaria. So at the age of 9,
she had certainly purged her body of all accumulated fat up to that point.
She has lost about 30 pounds in England so far this year, do in part to an
ulcer (!) -- again, she is purging her body of most if not all toxins stored
in fat between the ages of 9 and 20. So when she gets pregnant, she will
not, in fact, have a "lifetime's" worth of dioxin to put into her breast
milk.
As far as I can tell, this woman (Steingraber) is manipulating and using the
'sacredness' of breastfeeding and breast milk as a strategy to further
advance her crusade against dioxins. The ends (with which I agree) do not
justify the means, in my humble opinion.
Final note -- although oxytocin is *released* FOLLOWING orgasm, I am unaware
of any research that substantiates her claim that oxytocin "controls" female
orgasm. If anyone knows of any research, please post it. Female orgasm
feels nice. Oxytocin is released following orgasm. There is no evidence
that oxytocin is in any way related to the pleasurable feelings of orgasm.
Consider the reaction of women in labor being given pitocin through their
IV. Are they moaning in ecstasy??
Also, Steingraber says she is an advocate FOR breast cancer. I don't think
this is what she means. She is fast and loose with her facts, and not
careful with her word choices. Too bad, as these problems certainly detract
from her purpose in getting the world to stop creating dioxin.
Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology and Nutrition
Texas A&M University
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