Beyond Nutrition: Exploring Surprising Uses for Breast Milk
As we know, breast milk’s popular nickname is “liquid gold” and rightfully so! There are millions of antibodies and nutrients that a mother’s breast milk can provide for her infant and beyond when ingested. As amazing as breast milk is for the gut microbiome, what other ways can it be useful to a child?
Breast milk is known for its antibacterial properties which can be useful when trying to avoid harmful ingredients when treating skin conditions. Breast milk contains an epidermal growth factor which may promote skin repair. Some conditions include, eczema, diaper rash, conjunctivitis (eye infection), and Otitis media (ear infection), which is a no-cost and noninvasive approach to such conditions. For many centuries, breastmilk was the treatment of choice due to its affordability (free!) and its natural ingredients.
As always, more research is necessary to provide further evidence-based results to confirm or deny the effectiveness of this traditional therapy.
Reference: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6567207/pdf/nutrients-11-00944.pdf