eli5: why isn’t formula milk just formulated to be better than breastmilk?
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Breastmilk isn’t straightforward. It’s not like something built from legos, where you can easily pick it up, see exactly how it’s built, see each piece and how it fits in, and how important each piece is. And you can’t see obviously how to make it “better.”
There are a TON of different compounds in breastmilk, and there’s no straightforward way to know which ones do what, and how they all interact, and how they interact specifically with each mother and baby. Especially since the affects are so small, and so long lasting. You might not realize that the ratio of two components is what affects someones cancer chances 50 years down the line. Or that a certain amount of one thing helps brain development, but a bit too much of it can cause delays in other areas.
In short, it’s way too complicated, and way too difficult to know all the millions of variables that make breast milk so good. So in a way, we are VERY lucky that we came up with such a good replacement! It’s really helpful to lots of people who can’t breastfeed well enough for whatever reason. But finding something “better” is just way too complicated.
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