Why milk product donations shouldn't be allowed during disasters

In the 23 February 2012 edition of the Inquirer, a letter to the editor was sent by Corazon del Mundo, chair of Women Involved in Nation-Building, directing the readers' attention to the Sendong disaster and listing down reasons why donations of milk products should be allowed and be coursed through government agencies.  This letter was in response to the column by Rina Jimenez-David on milk and malnutrition where she wrote about the perils of donations of powdered formula or milk.   

This brings us to the problem of donations of powdered formula or milk, which are among the first and most common items sent in response to disasters. “In the confusion that surrounds emergencies, these products are often distributed in an uncontrolled way and used by mothers who would otherwise breastfeed their babies,” says Unicef, adding that indiscriminate use of donated milk “results in unnecessary illness and death for infants.”

LATCH Class this Saturday - 12 March 2011

This Saturday, 12 March 2011, L.A.T.C.H. will be conducting a breastfeeding workshop information at The Medical City from 9-12nn. This is a free class on a first come, first serve basis. Classes will be at the 4th Floor, Conference Room 1, take the entrance beside Starbucks. Topics include Breastfeeding Benefits, What to Expect in the First Week, Positioning and Latching, Back to Work and Busting Breastfeeding Myths. For inquiries, you can call TMC at 635-6789, loc. 6444.

Click HERE to know what to expect for this class.

*Update: 10 March 2011 - Class has been moved to 26 March 2011 due to scheduling conflicts at The Medical City

Breast Milk can KILL cancer cells

We all know that breastfeeding reduces the risk of breast and other types of cancer. But a study has come out showing that a particular component of breast milk can KILL cancer cells. Click here for an abstract of the study (Thanks Jenny Ang for the link!). The substance known as HAMLET was found to kill 40 cancer cells in laboratory experiments. As reported in this article:

Although the special substance, known as HAMLET (Human Alpha-lactalbumin Made LEthal to Tumour cells), was discovered in breast milk several years ago, it is only now that it has been possible to test it on humans. Patients with cancer of the bladder who were treated with the substance excreted dead cancer cells in their urine after each treatment, which has given rise to hopes that it can be developed into medication for cancer care in the future.

HAMLET was discovered by chance when researchers were studying the antibacterial properties of breast milk. Further studies showed that HAMLET comprises a protein and a fatty acid that are both found naturally in breast milk. So far, however, it has not been proven that the HAMLET complex is spontaneously formed in the milk. It is speculated, however, that HAMLET can form in the acidic environment of the babies´ stomachs. Laboratory experiments have shown that HAMLET kills 40 different types of cancer, and the researchers are now going on to study its effect on skin cancer, tumours in the mucous membranes and brain tumours. Importantly, HAMLET kills only cancer cells and does not affect healthy cells.

Researchers at the University of Gothenburg are focusing on how HAMLET can be taken up into tumour cells. The researchers, Roger Karlsson, Maja Puchades and Ingela Lanekoff, are attempting to gain an in-depth understanding of how the substance interacts with cell membranes, and their findings were recently published in the prestigious journal PLoS One.

Earlier, I read that long term breastfeeding is tied to more aggressive cancer. Although breastfeeding was reduces risks of cancer, it also stimulates prolactin which promotes tumor growth. BUT, the study authors themselves admit that "the relation between breast-feeding, prolactin and breast cancer is complex and not fully understood."

Women who breast-feed for six months or more face a higher risk of developing the most aggressive types of breast cancer, but it's not clear whether there's a cause-and-effect relationship, a new study finds.

Researchers also don't know if these women are more likely to die of cancer than others. Overall, breast-feeding is thought to reduce the risk of breast cancer.

Aside from fight breast cancer cells and reducing cancer risks, breast milk was found to also fight acne with one of its component - lauric acid.

American scientists found that a component of mother's milk, called lauric acid, which also is found in coconut oil, had acne-fighting qualities.

They found the new treatment has no side effects because it comes from natural products unlike current available treatments which can cause redness and burning.

The miracles of breastmilk are really astounding - from health to aesthetic purposes, new benefits are continuously being discovered - all the more reason to call it liquid gold.

Sparing the rod doesn't mean spoiling your child

When I was about 9 years old, my parents went to the US to "land" since my dad's immigrant application had been approved. They stayed for 1 month but decided to stay in the Philippines. While I was growing up, I kept asking them why they had to give up the "American Dream".

My mom believed that America was not a conducive place to bring up children. For one, there were a lot of bad influences. Second, child abuse laws were unreasonable and thus, as parents they could not properly discipline us. My parents believed in spanking using their hands or belts. I distinctly remember my maternal grandmother chasing after my siblings and with a broom when we were naughty. I also remember being punished by kneeling on monggo seeds (somewhat like quinoa but hard) in a corner.

According to a recent study I got from one of my egroups, spanking children leads to aggressive behavior when they are older.

The results reinforce earlier studies which have found that children who are spanked have lower IQ scores and that frequent spanking has been linked to anxiety and behavior problems and higher risk of violent or criminal behavior, depression and excessive alcohol use.

Researchers surveyed 2,500 mothers across the United States.

Nearly half said they had not spanked their three-year-old in the past month, while 27.9 percent said reported one or two spankings and 26.5 reported spanking more than twice.

Two years later, the mothers who had spanked their children more frequently reported higher levels of aggression such as arguing, screaming, fighting, destroying things, cruelty or bullying in their five-year-olds.

The results held true even when researchers accounted for potentially confounding factors such as the presence of aggression within the family and parental stress, depression and drug or alcohol use.

"There are ways to discipline children effectively that do not involve hitting them and that can actually lower their risk for being more aggressive," said lead author Catherine Taylor of the Tulane University School of Public Health.

"So the good news is, parents don't have to rely on spanking to get the results that they want," Taylor said in a press release.

"If they avoid spanking but instead use effective, non-physical types of discipline, their child has a better chance of being healthier, and behaving better later."

Even before this study came out, professional organizations like the American Academy of Pediatricians discourages corporal punishment. However, it was reported that as may as 90% of parents spank their children.

Here in the Philippines, spanking is considered normal in the course of disciplining your child. However, more young parents are eschewing spanking for time-outs. When Naima was a newborn, Stan and I talked about how to discipline her and agreed that spanking wouldn't be an acceptable punishment for either of us.

Naima is now a busy toddler at 2 years and 4 months. I don't know if she is exceptionally well-behaved or if Stan and I just have a lot of patience but she has never been spanked at all. When Naima misbehaves, I usually tell her "If you don't behave I will call your dad" and Stan does the same thing vice-versa. If that doesn't work, we tell her that we will withhold her favorite activity if she doesn't behave. And when she throws a tantrum, we pick her up carry her and ask her do you want mom or dad to cry also? She normally doesn't so she stops crying and listens. Another approach we find effective is to distract her with a toy, a song, flying objects (she loves airplanes, balloons and helicopters).

At this time I am happy (and lucky) that Naima understands and already has a sense of what is right or wrong. This makes discipling her a lot easier without the spanking or a lot of tears. I'm not sure how this will work if Naima becomes a tween or a teenager or if we have a boy for our second child. I still need to check out those parenting books, after all.

Breastfeeding Numbers

It all boils down to numbers.

MarketMan recently did a post on income/poverty levels in the Philippines and painted a pretty dismal picture.

Essentially, based on Pulse Asia’s classifications, they estimate that categories “A/B/C” make up just the top 7% of all families in the Philippines, while another 67% fall into the “D” category, and 26% are in the “E” category.

He estimates that a decent lower-middle class existence in the Philippines for a family of 5 costs about P50,000 or about US$1,080.00 (that's $216 per person per month!). He also presents a picture of how much Filipinos are earning per month from P122K for the top 1% to P2,667 for the bottom 10%.

Meanwhile, according to Nielsen, Mead Johnson spent $2M in 2008 and $4M for the first 8 months in 2009 for media, excluding online efforts or direct marketing. I stumbled upon a Twitter post from Elita showing how much Mead Johnson earns from formula sales in third world countries, which includes the Philippines!

The $2.83 billion company gets about two-thirds of its sales outside the United States and its Enfamil brand was the global leader with 11.7 percent of the $22.3 billion baby formula market in 2008, the last year a ranking is available, according to Euromonitor International.

The company is gaining market share in China and is also in a host of other emerging markets, including Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. It is starting to move into India.

Formula is used much less widely in emerging markets than in the United States. In China, children ages 0 to 3 years consume about 8.8 kilograms of formula a year, according to Euromonitor International. In India, that figure is only 0.4 kilograms, while in Brazil it is 1.6 kilograms. That compares with 12.9 kilograms in the United States.

A recent study published early this week in the US talks about how U$13 billion could be saved yearly if breastfeeding recommendations were properly complied with. Apparently, there was an ABC News report which presented an unfavorable view of the study.

Interestingly, although the study presented estimates, it was well-supported by experts.

"The health care system has got to be aware that breast-feeding makes a profound difference," said Dr. Ruth Lawrence, who heads the American Academy of Pediatrics' breast-feeding section.

The findings suggest that there are hundreds of deaths and many more costly illnesses each year from health problems that breast-feeding may help prevent. These include stomach viruses, ear infections, asthma, juvenile diabetes, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and even childhood leukemia.

The magnitude of health benefits linked to breast-feeding is vastly underappreciated, said lead author Dr. Melissa Bartick, an internist and instructor at Harvard Medical School. Breast-feeding is sometimes considered a lifestyle choice, but Bartick calls it a public health issue.

What is disturbing is the goal of Mead Johnson to increase its market share outside the US - where legislation and enforcement of laws protecting breastfeeding and the implementation of the International Code of Marketing Breast-milk Substitutes is not well established. Actually, I don't see advertisements promoting formula for babies 12 months and below. But for children 1 year old and above, formula companies have bombarded parents with studies, ads by "experts", celebrities etc. In fact, one breastfeeding friend still nurses her 3 year old at night but gives him Enfagrow (a product of Mead Johnson) during the day while she is at work. Companies have realized that formula for toddlers is a huge market here and have exploited this segment, despite the fact that formula milk is no longer required for toddlers.

It makes me wonder how supporting our own Philippine Pediatric Society is towards breastfeeding. Almost all the pediatricians I know give out baby books printed by formula companies. It is certainly quite sad especially when you see the startling differences between the numbers showing poverty levels in the Philippines as compared to the advertising expenses of Mead Johnson.

More health benefits for the nursing mom

In late April 2009, 2 interesting articles on breastfeeding came out and I've been meaning to blog about them but got sidetracked with some stuff. The first was the latest report that on the benefits to a breastfeeding mom, which now includes a lower risk for heart disease. This finding adds to the previous benefits that nursing moms have specifically lower risk of osteoporosis, breast and ovarian cancer and Type 2 diabetes. However, experts also caution that the benefits may actually be a result of a healthier lifestyle practiced by nursing women, rather than a causal relationship between breastfeeding and health benefits.