Human breast milk is meant only for babies (Opinion)

Thursday, April 07, 2011 by: Cindy Jones-Shoeman
Tags: breast milk, babies, health news

(NewsTarget) What will they think of next? Recently, it was reported that scientists in China have now altered a cow so that it can produce milk that is similar to human breast milk. The scientists plan to eventually market this milk to consumers because they say this genetically modified milk is like real breast milk and mimics its properties nutritionally. However, something these scientists fail to admit is that human beings stop drinking breast milk as they grow up for a reason.

There is no mammal that continues to drink its mother's breast milk its entire life. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that infants exclusively drink breast milk for the first six months of life; after that time, WHO says that children can be fed breast milk up to two years and beyond, but their diets should be supplemented with other foods. Breast milk is the ideal food for infants, and it provides infants with everything they need nutritionally during the first few months of their life. Drinking breast milk offers infants natural immunity that formula cannot, because immunities pass from mother to child. However, babies should eventually be weaned from breast milk. It is neither natural nor necessarily healthy for a human being to continue drinking breast milk as an adult.

Parents are told not to feed their children cow's milk until they are at least twelve months old. Why? Because infant stomachs cannot handle the proteins in cow's milk. However, no human being should drink cow's milk. According to Robert M. Kradjian, M.D., many people become ill when they drink cow's milk. He emphasizes that a mammal's milk is specifically geared for that particular mammal and, therefore, it is unnatural and unhealthy for human beings to drink cow's milk.

Perhaps that's why grown adults are now clamoring for human milk. They desire milk so badly, yet they know cow's milk isn't good for them. That doesn't mean, though, that they should continue drinking milk as adults, whether it is human milk or not. Like all other mammals, human beings should stop drinking milk once they are weaned. It is unhealthy - and unnatural - to do otherwise.

Sources:
http://gothamist.com/2011/04/03/mad_scientis...
http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/exclusiv...
http://www.kathydettwyler.org/detwean.html
http://www.babycenter.com/0_cows-milk-when-a...
http://www.notmilk.com/kradjian.html

About the author

Cindy Jones-Shoeman is the author of Last Sunset and a Feature Writer for Academic Writing at Suite101.
Some of Cindy's interests include environmental issues, vegetarian and sustainable lifestyles, music, and reading.