What's really inside babies' first foods
BBCWhat's really inside babies' first foods Getty Images A mother breastfeeds her child during the "all for breastfeeding" festival in Bogota, Colombia Scientists are discovering the extraordinary power of human milk and the benefits it brings to infants, but there are also some hidden contaminants that can lurk in breast and formula milks. Getty Images Breast milk is a dynamic, adaptable food, and varies over the course of a day and even from the start to the end of a feed Unfortunately, formula can also contain lurking, unwelcome ingredients: just like I discovered pollutants in my own body, toxic substances can make their way into infant formula, too. "It's one thing to solve the problem for infant formula, but unless you solve heavy metal contamination of the drinking water that gets mixed with powdered milk to give to baby, you're only fixing half the problem," she says. Emily Bloxam, a paediatric dietitian at City Dietitians in London who specialises in neonatal nutrition and allergies, explains that while the nutritional composition of formula is now closer to breast milk than ever before, breast milk is "a key driver" for the development of the baby's gut microbiome.
History of this topic
Breast milk proven to enhance heart performance in premature babies
Hindustan TimesHow to reduce your baby's risk of chronic disease by giving their microbiome the best start
ABCDiscover Related
)
_1659679855121_1659685153050_1659685153050.jpg)
_1659679855121_1659679866484_1659679866484.jpg)
)
