November 24, 2009

Stem cells in breast milk essential

Filed under: Baby health — Alan @ 9:01 am

sellA leading scientist is expected to claim this week that breast milk is vital for infant development as well as for its nutritional advantages which are already accepted among the medical community.  The new research discovered that there are possibly three different kinds of stem cells found in breast milk.

Medical director at the Swiss baby equipment company Medela, Dr. Mark Cregan believes that the presence of stem cells in breast milk helps a child reach its genetic potential better since the milk comes from the mother’s mammary glands.

Dr. Cregan stated that breast milk is the only tissue from the mother in which more than one kind of stem cell has been found which is unique and implies that breast milk has an impressive bioactivity.

His research was able to isolate stem cells that originate from the mammary glands and immune system which shows based on preliminary evidence that stem cells will help a baby grow its bone and muscle tissue.

Scientists plan to use the discovery to harvest the stem cells from breast milk to determine why some mothers are unable to produce their own breast milk and to test out new drugs that may aid them.

Advocates are hopeful that the presence of stem cells in breast milk will help increase the current UK breastfeeding rates which show that only about 33% of babies are breastfed exclusively at one week of age with the number decreasing to 20% at six weeks of age.

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