Why scientists are not able to 100% replicate breast milk to give to infants in case of a mother not being able to breast feed?
In: 1
I mean we kind of are, that’s what formula is.
In reality it’s a whole question of “what is the need for formula?”
You run into issues of shelf stability, access to clean water (dry products last longer) and then you get into a whole world of why is the mother “unable to breastfeed?” Some children are lactose intolerant, or have protein allergies, the mother might lactate just fine but those children breast milk is a problem and needs to be adjusted.
I think the formula vs. breast milk is less strictly chemical, and more tied into things like social stigma, legitimate/perceived concerns with multinational companies, and the human bond between a Parent/Child.
EDIT – Gah, I focused on nutrition. There is a whole world of other things that are impossible to replicate chemically such as antibodies and disease exposure.
Breast milk is a complex mixture of biologic components. It’s not a simple, uniform compound to synthesize. Women are also not 100% identical, so there are individual differences.
More significantly, breast milk is available at relatively low cost. That means that making a really good synthetic at the price of a fine wine (a much simpler mixture) is going to produce almost no sales.
Formula manufacturers have to keep the mixture as simple as possible. Just good enough to work and not so good that nobody can afford it. That range isn’t going to include 100% identical.
We don’t have the ability to manufacture antibodies, the key component of the adaptive immune system which allows the body to identify and effectively fight off specific microbial threats. That’s also why we have vaccines – we have no way of manufacturing antibodies, so we give people a sample of disease-causing organisms (either weakened, killed, or broken pieces of those organisms) to train the immune system to produce antibodies so that they can fight off the real diseases.
Breast milk contains all the mother’s antibodies, which helps keep babies healthy until their immune system is more developed (usually by about 6-12 months). Formula may have a similar blend of vitamins and nutrients as breast milk, but doesn’t have those vital antibodies.
Why scientists are not able to 100% replicate breast milk to give to infants in case of a mother not being able to breast feed?
In: 1
I mean we kind of are, that’s what formula is.
In reality it’s a whole question of “what is the need for formula?”
You run into issues of shelf stability, access to clean water (dry products last longer) and then you get into a whole world of why is the mother “unable to breastfeed?” Some children are lactose intolerant, or have protein allergies, the mother might lactate just fine but those children breast milk is a problem and needs to be adjusted.
I think the formula vs. breast milk is less strictly chemical, and more tied into things like social stigma, legitimate/perceived concerns with multinational companies, and the human bond between a Parent/Child.
EDIT – Gah, I focused on nutrition. There is a whole world of other things that are impossible to replicate chemically such as antibodies and disease exposure.
Breast milk is a complex mixture of biologic components. It’s not a simple, uniform compound to synthesize. Women are also not 100% identical, so there are individual differences.
More significantly, breast milk is available at relatively low cost. That means that making a really good synthetic at the price of a fine wine (a much simpler mixture) is going to produce almost no sales.
Formula manufacturers have to keep the mixture as simple as possible. Just good enough to work and not so good that nobody can afford it. That range isn’t going to include 100% identical.
We don’t have the ability to manufacture antibodies, the key component of the adaptive immune system which allows the body to identify and effectively fight off specific microbial threats. That’s also why we have vaccines – we have no way of manufacturing antibodies, so we give people a sample of disease-causing organisms (either weakened, killed, or broken pieces of those organisms) to train the immune system to produce antibodies so that they can fight off the real diseases.
Breast milk contains all the mother’s antibodies, which helps keep babies healthy until their immune system is more developed (usually by about 6-12 months). Formula may have a similar blend of vitamins and nutrients as breast milk, but doesn’t have those vital antibodies.
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