Mothers Milk and Udder Delights

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The breast defense against dimwitted kids

As you may know, I'm a big fan of milk for people of all ages - especially raw, natural cow's milk. I've even written a book on the subject…

However, for newborns and infants up to toddler age, I can honestly say that no milk is better for them than Mom's own - unless she's addicted to drugs (even the prescribed variety) or consuming lots of toxic chemicals or heavy metals. These toxins, along with their side effects, can be passed on in breast milk. But I digress.

Much research has shown that babies weaned on pure, unadulterated human milk have stronger immune systems, sharper minds, heavier body weights, and better overall health than those weaned on store-bought (read: pasteurized and stripped of all the healthy fats and nutrients) milk. And now, another new study is backing up the already impressive body of research on how vital human breast milk is for baby's health…

Especially those that aren't carried to term.

According to the July issue of the journal Pediatrics, prematurely born babies - more specifically, those whose birth weights were lower than 2 pounds, 3 ounces - who were fed natural breast milk performed better on tests of cognitive development than those who were "nourished" with formula.

According to the summary of the research I read, these tests were administered when the babies were 18 months old. I'm assuming this means 18 months after conception. If it's 18 months after actual birth, then of course those who were carried closer to term would be farther along in cognitive development - they could actually be older by as much as 2 or 3 months. But I digress again…

The research was adjusted to compensate for other mitigating factors - like familial income and education. Yet even after correcting for these and other variables, there still persisted a strong correlation between breast milk consumption and mental development in newborns.

The study's authors concluded (as I did long ago) that the fatty acids present in human breast milk are the key to the infants' brain development. And indeed, there was a direct linear relationship in the research between the amount of breast milk consumed and performance on cognition tests: The more they suckled, the higher they scored.

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