Let's all agree that a fed baby is the ultimate goal, regardless of how you opt to feed.
However, as for added health benefits, there is simply no denying that
breastmilk is basically magical, both for your baby and for you, mama. Many, many studies have been conducted, and researchers across the globe have found breastmilk to both
reduce the likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as cutting the
risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in half.
And as this wasn't powerful enough, Mother.ly reports that Swedish researchers have not discovered that babies who are fed breast milk have a stomach pH that promotes the formation of
HAMLET (Human Alpha-lactalbumin Made Lethal to Tumor cells). This was discovered by chance when researchers were studying the antibacterial properties of breast milk. HAMLET is a combination of proteins and lipids found in breast milk that can work together to kill cancer cells, causing them to pull away from healthy cells, shrink and die, leaving the healthy cells unaffected.
How is that for amazing?
According to researchers at Lund University in Sweden, this mechanism may contribute to the protective effect breast milk has against pediatric tumours and leukaemia, which accounts for about 30 percent of all childhood cancer. Other researchers
analyzed 18 different studies, finding that "14 to 19 percent of all childhood leukaemia cases may be prevented by breastfeeding for six months or more."
It doesn't even stop there.
Some other doctors in
Sweden recently collaborated with scientists in Prague to find yet another amazing benefit to breast milk. And what they found was that a certain milk sugar called Alpha1H, found
only in breast milk, helps in the production of lactose and can transform into a different form that helps break up tumours into microscopic fragments in the body.
Let us repeat that: Breastmilk can
help break up tumours in the body.
Just WOW.
According to the Scandinavian researchers, patients who were given a drug based on this milk sugar, rather than a placebo, passed whole tumour fragments in their urine. Even better? Are more and more studies are being done on the benefits of breastmilk, there is more laboratory evidence to support that the drug can
kill more than 40 different types of cancer cells in animal trials, including brain tumours and colon cancer.
How amazing is the human body?!
