>Kermaline J. Cotterman posted: >If the lab tech analyzed it, and then if you could get him to analyze >several more mothers' samples of colostrum, what a great thing for you to >do to publish it as a small study, so the question would be "evidenced >based" in the future! "Rusty pipes" would be a less exact answer then! I >suppose if the RBC are broken down, then microscopic analysis wouldn't be >of any particular value would it? At least, couldn't he have done an >occult blood test? Would heme show up on that??? The mention of RBCs and the color green triggered a memory from my grad school days, when heme biosynthesis and degradation were closer to the forefront of my mind. Heme (contained in hemoglobin) is the substance that gives RBCs their color, and its breakdown is a multi-hued event. As it degrades, the heme molecule goes through several transformations. I don't recall each one, but the ultimate product is bilirubin, which is yellow; the form just before that is biliverdin, which is green. The course of heme degradation can be seen as a bruise heals from the red of a fresh bruise, through the transitional violets and greens of a healing bruise, and finally the yellow of a fading bruise. I suspect that the varied colors of colostrum reflect the same process. I think it'd be a relatively easy thing to measure given the existence of blood tests for the same substances. Results might not explain how the blood gets into the milk, but they'd at least provide an explanation for the colors. They might also indicate how common rusty-pipe syndrome is; even "normal" colostrum might have trace amounts of heme breakdown products in it. Incidentally, googling "rusty-pipe syndrome" turns up three pages of hits. Barring a few plumbing-related pages, most of them have to do with lactation. :-) regards, Julia Julia R. Barrett Freelance Science Writer & Editor Madison, Wisconsin 608-238-8409; [log in to unmask] *********************************************** 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