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Fresh Breast Milk is Best

Posted on: Wednesday, 24 November 2004, 09:00 CST

WORKING nursing mothers often pump their breast milk for their babies to drink from a bottle. A new study published in The Archives of Childhood Disease, suggests that if the milk is chilled for too long, it may lose some of its health benefits. Researchers said antioxidants in breast milk that had been refrigerated were less active than those in fresh milk. It is based on an examination of 16 samples of milk collected from mothers who had delivered within the last 24 hours. After the milk was checked for antioxidant activity, the researchers refrigerated some and froze the rest. When they rechecked the antioxidant activity after two and seven days, it was reduced.

Lead author Dr Thomas Hegyi of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the US, said mothers should continue breastfeeding if they could, and that they should go ahead and refrigerate or freeze the milk. Still, the study's findings suggested that storing breast milk at low temperatures for more than a few days can reduce the strength of its antioxidants, which help the body fight disease.

* BREATHING becomes easier in the late afternoon, report researchers who were looking at circadian rhythms' effects on the lungs. Led by Dr Boris I. Medarov of the Long Island Jewish Medical Centre in New Hyde Park, the US, the five-year research looked at daytime breathing patterns of more than 4,800 patients, many of them with asthma or other lung problems.

They were given equipment to test lung capacity and the resistance of airways to taking in a breath. The researchers found that the lungs were most resistant about noon, and most open about four or five hours later. Apart from lending insight into lung function, the researchers said the study may have a number of implications.

It suggests asthma patients may be able to use less medicine if they concentrate their doses at those times of day when they are most needed. It also means that doctors preparing to remove breathing tubes from patients might consider doing it in the late afternoon, when the lungs are strongest. People involved in athletics activities may also find that increased lung capacity late in the day helps them perform.

* THE stronger an onion tastes, the more likely it is to help fight cancer and other diseases, scientists at Cornell have found. The researchers, who looked at 10 kinds of onions as well as shallots, found broad differences in the concentrations of phenolics and flavonoids, compounds that can help reduce the risk of problems like heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

Their report, which appeared in The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, said however, the more powerful the concentration of the compounds, the more powerful the flavour and the smell.

So there could be some social fallout. "It's not good for your friends, but it is good for your health," said lead researcher Dr Rui Hai Liu, a chemist in the university's department of food science.

To test the onions, the researchers measured their concentrations of phenolics and flavonoids and then did tests to see how well they fought cancer cells in the lab. Overall, the study said, shallots had the highest antioxidant value. Other winners were the western yellow, New York bold and northern red.

* EARLY life stresses may lead to lifelong behavioural problems, but a change in the environment can help if it comes early enough. A study by researchers at the Oregon Health and Science University's primate research centre and the University of Pittsburgh looked at what happened when baby monkeys were separated from their mothers.

The monkeys were chosen because their social interactions closely paralleled those of human beings, said one of the researchers, Dr Judith Cameron. In the first study, the researchers separated some baby monkeys from their mothers within a week of birth, others after a month and others at six months, when they were moving into adulthood.

As the monkeys aged, those in the first group were the most withdrawn, with poor social skills. They did even worse when they were placed in a new group. The monkeys separated at a month were more social, but when placed in a new group, they became less playful.

In the second study, babies were separated within a week of birth and placed at different ages with surrogates known for their nurturing skills. The sooner the monkey was placed with the surrogate, the better it fared, the researchers found.

* RESEARCHERS have found that seasonal allergy symptoms and its risk of asthma can be reduced with immune therapy. The treatment consists of an extract of the major grass pollens administered under the tongue before and during the spring pollen season for three consecutive years.

In the study, 113 children between five and 14 who had hay fever but not seasonal asthma, were randomly assigned to standard symptomatic therapy with antihistamines or nasal steroids (the control group) or to sub- lingual immunotherapy. Both phases were repeated for three years.

Children in the immunotherapy group used less allergy medication in the second and third years of therapy and tended to have lower allergy symptoms, according to the team. And after three years, children in the control group were nearly four times more likely to develop asthma. "Our findings confirm and expand previous findings (showing) that allergy shots can not only improve hay fever symptoms, but also prevent asthma and its possible chronic consequences," Dr Samuele E. Burastero from San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan.

* BRITISH scientists have developed a stable-liquid vaccine technology that eliminates the need for costly refrigeration.

The new technology could deliver cheaper, life-saving vaccines to millions of children in remote areas of the world. Devised by researchers at Cambridge Biostability Ltd, the new technology involves drying the vaccine molecules and embedding them in tiny sugar beads or glass spheres. Each sphere is inert and absolutely stable without the need for refrigeration.

The process is based on a natural process that enables some plants to remain in a desiccated state for hundreds of years and then return to life. "It could revolutionise how we deliver vaccines in the developing world," said Dr Stewart Tyson, of Britain's Department for International Development.

Vaccines need to be refrigerated all the time to keep them potent.

* SHORT people are more likely to die after heart surgery, a new study says. A study of 2,475 men revealed at the Argentine Congress of Cardiology says those under 1.6m have a 2.5 higher risk. The study, by the Buenos Aires Cardiovascular Institute says if you have to operate on a short person you should evaluate the risk-benefit ratio.

Source: New Straits Times

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