Breastfeeding Remains the Best Choice in a Polluted World
Mary Hurt
LLLI Public Relations Associate
From: LEAVEN, Vol. 39 No. 5, October-November 2003, p. 101.
Breastfeeding
remains the best option for feeding infants, even as attention is focused
on the many chemicals that may find their way into a mother's body.
The four specimens
often used to test levels of chemicals in the human body are urine,
blood, hair and human milk. This monitoring is done to determine levels
of environmental chemicals in different geographical areas. Any substances
found in human milk because of this routine testing are a reflection
of the exposure in all humans living in that particular area and not
a statement about breastfeeding.
Scientific research
shows consistently that even in a world exposed to so many chemicals,
breastfeeding offers advantages which outweigh the risk of ingesting
possible contaminants. Indeed, the benefits of breastfeeding which include
high levels of antioxidants may prove to be essential to compensate
for and outweigh the risks of toxic effects from the environment. Today
the focus of scientific concerns is being directed toward removing potentially
toxic chemicals from the environment while recognizing the value of
human milk, the only source of optimal nutrition for infants.
A discussion
of this topic is incomplete without pointing out the well-documented
nutritional inadequacies and detrimental health consequences of artificial
baby milk, which may be contaminated both as products of the same environment
and through manufacturing. In addition, human milk, unlike manufactured
formula, does not add to the ecological burden of the planet.
Human milk cannot
be duplicated. It is a living, changing fluid which continually adapts
to the needs of the developing infant. Professional research demonstrates
that breastfed infants have significantly lower morbidity rates. In
addition, studies show that breastfeeding offers significant immunologic,
developmental and nutritional benefits.
La Leche League
International's Center for Breastfeeding Information maintains the world's
largest collection of studies on breastfeeding and human milk. For more
information, go to www.lalecheleague.org/cbi/cbi.html.
Last updated Monday, September 11, 2006 by njb.
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:31:41 UTC 2007.
