Breast milk helps babies accept more foods

William Atkins
Saturday, 02 August 2008 20:41

Science - Biology

Preliminary conclusions from the Hausner study shows that babies who breastfeed may be more receptive to different types of foods than babies fed from a bottle.

Hausner states in the New Scientist article “On today’s menu is banana breast milk,” that, “It’s not like if the mother eats apple pie the baby thinks ‘mmmm, apple pie’, but it may make them more accepting of the flavor of other foods.” [New Scientist: July 26-August 1, 2008, page 14]

The paper in Physiology and Hehavior is entitled "Differential transfer of dietary flavour compounds into human breast milk." Its authors are  Helene Hausner, Wender L P Bredie, Christian Mølgaard, Mikael Agerlin Petersen, and Per Møllerm, all from the Department of Food Science, Centre for Advanced Food Studies (LMC), Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark.

Hausner adds, “Breastfeeding may prepare the infant for flavor changes and new experiences when they start to eat solid foods.” [Also online (subscription required) at New Scientist “Breast milk provides menu of different flavours”]

Mothers concerned with bottle-feeding their babies and the consideration that their babies may not accept solid foods later, should try different brands of formula milk.

Hausner states, “If you don’t breastfeed you should change the brand of formula milk you use from time to time. She has found that different milk brands also taste different, so may help infants develop acceptance of more foods."
 
The abstract to the paper states, "Transfer of dietary flavour compounds into human milk is believed to constitute the infant's early flavour experiences. This study reports on the time-dependent transfer of flavour compounds from the mother's diet to her breast milk using a within-subject design. Eighteen lactating mothers completed three test days on which they provided a baseline milk sample prior to ingestion of capsules containing 100 mg d-carvone, l-menthol, 3-methylbutyl acetate and trans-anethole. Milk samples were collected 2, 4, 6 and 8 h post-ingestion and analysed by a dynamic headspace method and gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy. The recovery quantities were adjusted for variations in milk fat content."

Their results found "Concentration-time profiles for d-carvone and trans-anethole revealed a maximum around 2 h post-ingestion, whereas the profile for l-menthol showed a plateau pattern. The ester 3-methylbutyl acetate could not be detected in the milk, but a single determination showed traces (<0.4 ppb) in a 1 h milk collection. Flavour compounds appeared to be transmitted differentially from the mother's diet to her milk. The results imply that human milk provides a reservoir for time-dependent chemosensory experiences to the infant; however, volatiles from the diet are transferred selectively and in relatively low amounts."