Mother ’s Milk and the Environment: Might Chemical Exposures Impair Lactation?

New mothers who quit breastfeeding earlier than they had wanted often chalk it up to not being able to produce enough milk. But a handful of researchers are exploring whether certain environmental exposures may affect some women’s ability to lactate.© Tony Anderson/Getty Images Lactation support includes teaching women techniques to breastfeed and build their milk supply, as well as reassuring them of their ability to nourish their infants.© Phanie/Alamy Stock Photo Education and counseling have been important tools in boosting breastfeeding rates, after decades of marketing messages that insinuated breast milk was insufficient to nourish young babies.Mellin’s Food Company   Introduced in the 1940s, DDT was widely used until it was banned for most uses in the 1970s. The 1949 discovery of DDT in breast milk was an early glimpse into the understanding that a mother’s environmental exposures may also affect her baby.Courtesy U.S. National Archives Many studies on DDT exposures and lactation have been conducted with populations of Hispanic women who work on farms or live in agricultural areas. The results from these and other lactation studies have been mixed.© David Litman/Shutterstock.com   Maternal obesity has been associated with shorter duration of breastfeeding. Although the explanation for this association is still unknown, studies in the past several years have h...
Source: EHP Research - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: News Focus January 2017 Source Type: research