Real Food by Nina Planck Read Free Book Online Page B

depletes iron. After one year, iron-rich raw liver is often
     the first solid food for babies in traditional diets.
    Breast milk is not only a complete meal but also a rich one: about 50 percent of its calories come from fat. Indeed, fats
     may be the most important thing about breast milk. At the most basic level, fat is essential for the baby's growth and development,
     and for assimilating protein and the fat-soluble vitamins A and D, but each particular fat in breast milk also plays an important
     role.
    The long-chain polyunsaturated omega-3 fats EPA and DHA in mother's milk are vital to eye and brain development in the baby.
     Pregnant and nursing women should eat plenty of fish— the only source of fully formed EPA and DHA— and keep eating it. With
     each pregnancy, a woman's store of omega-3 fats is depleted. The hungry baby neither knows nor cares whether her mother eats
     wild salmon, but simply takes the omega-3 fats she needs to build her own brain.
    As we saw earlier, vegans and vegetarians risk deficiency of EPA and DHA. The breast milk of vegan mothers contains less DHA
     than nonvegan breast milk. 1 Nursing mothers who do not eat fish are wise to take a generous supplement of flaxseed oil. The body can make EPA and DHA from flaxseed oil, but the conversion is uncertain and imperfect. It bears repeating: fish is vastly superior
     to plant sources of omega-3 fats.
    Most of the fat in breast milk is saturated. The body needs saturated fat to assimilate the polyunsaturated omega-3 fats and
     calcium. Mother's milk is a rare source of a saturated fat called lauric acid. Antimicrobial and antiviral, lauric acid is
     so critical to the baby's immunity that it must, by law, be added to infant formula; the usual source is coconut oil.
    The ample cholesterol in human milk is essential to the developing brain and nervous system. So vital is cholesterol, breast
     milk contains a special enzyme to ensure the baby absorbs it fully. 2 Humans make cholesterol in the liver and brain, but infants and children do not make enough cholesterol for health. Thus
     the American Dietetic Association says the diets of children under two must include cholesterol. 3
    Many other factors in breast milk boost the baby's immunity, an essential shield in its new, germ-filled world. White blood
     cells, sugars called oligosaccharides, and lactoferrin fight bacteria and viruses. (Lactoferrin from human milk is patented
     for use in killing E. coli in the meatpacking industry.) Mother's milk contains all five of the major antibodies, especially IgA, which is found throughout
     the human digestive and respiratory systems and protects tissues from pathogens. 4 Babies don't begin to make their own IgA for weeks.
    In one of nature's many elegant efficiencies, the antibodies in breast milk are targeted to the pathogens in the mother and
     baby's immediate environment; they are tailor-made for the baby. Dr. Jack Newman, a breast-feeding consultant to UNICEF, says
     researchers can't explain "how the mother's immune system knows to make antibodies against only pathogenic and not normal
     bacteria, but whatever the process may be, it favors the establishment of 'good bacteria' in a baby's gut."
    BREAST MILK: A COMPLETE MEAL
    • Complete protein and carbohydrate (for growth)
    • Saturated lauric acid (to fight infection)
    • Polyunsaturated EPA and DHA (for the brain and eyes)
    • Cholesterol (for brain and nerves)
    • Many immune factors (to fight infections)
    • Beneficial bacteria (for digestion)
    Breast milk is the most important food a mother will ever feed her baby. A convincing number of studies confirm that babies
     who drink this perfect food tend to have better immunity and digestion, lower mortality, and higher IQ than formula-fed infants.
     They typically have lower rates of hospital admissions, pneumonia, stomach flu, ear and urinary tract infections, and diarrhea
     than bottle-fed babies. In later life, breast-fed babies often have