Mamels life animal

Fat is back, baby !  After a pretty extensive smear campaign, fats are now recognized to be necessary for a healthy, balanced adult diet.  But for infants,   LL Cool J  said it best- “Don’t call it a comeback, I’ve been here for years!” Fats have always been an essential constituent in mother’s milk and in the last decade specific fatty acids have been added to commercial formula. The lion’s share of research effort in the topic of early nutrition has been dedicated to fatty acids and cognition . This is because fatty acids, made from phospholipids and triglycerides, are critical structural components of the brain. More to the Story: Phospholipids                       A recent pilot study conducted by colleagues in Japan suggests that formula fortified with a particular phospholipid may confer some benefits for infant neurodevelopment and function. Sphingomyelin is a phospholipid, and in rats, contributes to myelination of the brain. In our brains, neurons send “messages” to one ano

Last week the internet was aflutter with reports about Curtis a man who was planning to exclusively consume his wife’s breast milk. The couple had accumulated a stockpile of frozen breast milk that was no longer needed since weaning their baby. Dr. David Katz , director of the Yale Prevention Research Center, reportedly responded by saying that "the rapid growth and brain development of early childhood is best fueled by the high-fat, energy-dense elixir of breast milk." Its reported that Katz then further explained that breast milk has less value to an already developed adult. While the second half of Katz’s response is indeed supported by data, the first half demonstrated a wide-spread misconception about the specialness of human breast milk and provided the opportunity to present the first substantive post for Mammals Suck… Milk! To cut to the chase, it turns out that human milk is indeed super special! Just like the milk of each mammalian species is super special