Milk as Medicine: Breast Milk Transforms Challenges into Success

“In 2010, a researcher discovered that formula-fed babies weighed 5% less fat at 6 months of age than breastfed babies. This led to a research journey to understand breast milk and the connection between maternal gestational diabetes, breastfeeding, and infant health.”In 2010, researchers from the University of Oklahoma discovered that formula-fed babies born to medically obese mothers had about 5% less fat at 6 months of age than breastfed babies.

This discovery led to the initiation of a study on the connections between maternal gestational diabetes, breastfeeding, and infant health.Experts conducted a study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association that examined the effects of breast milk on the children of mothers with gestational diabetes.In 2019, experts began studying mother-infant pairs with gestational diabetes after the National Institutes of Health renewed funding for this 2015 project in collaboration with the University of Minnesota.



The results revealed that while nine differences existed between the breast milk of mothers with and without gestational diabetes, three were significantly linked to growth and body composition. These differences benefited the children of mothers with gestational diabetes, as they experienced faster linear growth and a lower fat percentage between one and three months of age.Despite limited knowledge about the composition of breast milk, experts remained at the forefront of discovering differences between formula and breast milk and their effects on children.

“Our ultimate take-home message is milk is medicine. Milk is the interface between the baby and the mother. What a mother eats and how they live, either good or bad, is being signaled and transferred to the infant,” Fields said.

(Source:https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/03/250325191256.

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