[Sca-cooks] raw milk

Jennifer Lynn Johnson karstyl at gmail.com
Fri Jun 11 06:18:03 PDT 2010


On 6/11/10 4:04 AM, "Stefan li Rous" <stefanlirous at austin.rr.com> wrote:


> My understanding is that among other things, such as building a bond between
> mother and child, breast feeding was supposed to boost the immune system of
> the baby by passing on immunities.
> 
> Is this the case? How long do you have to breast feed for a significant amount
> of immunities to be passed on? Do we know what immunities can be passed on
> this way? And will the immunities carry through to the next generation?
> 

> Answers? Opinions?

When babies are born their intestines are not fully closed, there are gaps
between the cells that allow proteins through them. Milk has anti-bodies,
which are proteins. So they pass through the intestinal wall into the blood
of the baby and give immunity before the baby has had time to build up its
own antibodies. The gut is most open early, and slowly closes over 6 months,
one reason for the suggestion that solids start after this date. The babies
system gets better and better at making antibodies as the mothers slowly
degrade naturally. 

This also has implications for allergies. Some allergists thing that if an
allergen is given early more of it gets into the blood and causes a
reaction, some think that the immune system learns during this stage what is
acceptable, as outside influences should be taken care of my the mother's
antibodies, anything they do not react to is ok and not to be reacted to.
There is research to support both opinions.

-Hrefna




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