Could Breastmilk be the Cure for Acne?

Human Milk Photographed © 2008, Danelle Day

Those who have long used breastmilk for its unmatched medicinal qualities already know that human milk works wonders on acne. Breastmilk contains natural, living components, making it one of the best face moisturizers. Today, medical research venues have started to take steps toward capitalizing on such components -- only not using human milk, but just one component of that milk, lauric acid, which is also found in coconuts.

We have to wonder if we have it all figured out when it comes to acne treatments, human milk, and this new coconut oil substitute? Or if maybe there remain other components of the liquid gold that is human milk -- the glyconutrients, white blood cells, omega-3 fatty acids, etc. -- that work in conjunction with lauric acid to heal acne prone skin (and other maladies).

By Andrew Hough, for the Telegraph

American scientists found that a component of breastmilk, called lauric acid, which also is found in coconut oil, has 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.

Researchers behind the project hope to begin human trials on a new face cream soon that could tackle the problem that hits millions of teenagers every year.

They have been able to avoid some of the more arduous restrictions to get approval for testing because the product will be created from natural or already approved ingredients.

Dissaya Pornpattananangkul, a bioengineering postgraduate student from the University of California made the discovery that lauric acid could save face for millions of teenagers around the world.

She described the findings as exciting which could give hope to millions of teenagers.

"It's a good feeling to know that I have a chance to develop a drug that could help people with acne," she said. "Common acne afflicts more than 85% of teenagers and over 40 million people in the United States; and current treatments have undesirable side effects including redness and burning. Lauric-acid-based treatments could avoid these side effects."

Pornpattananangkul also developed a sophisticated "smart delivery system" for the lauric acid to be effective.

She was able to bind the acid with "gold nanoparticles" which stops the lauric acid from joining together while in cream form, and then allows it to separate quickly when applied to the skin.

"The new smart delivery system includes gold nanoparticles attached to surfaces of lauric-acid-filled nano-bombs," she said. "The gold nanoparticles keep the nano-bombs or liposomes from fusing together. The gold nanoparticles also help the liposomes locate acne-causing bacteria based on the skin microenvironment, including pH."

Professor Liangfang Zhang, from the university's Jacobs School of Engineering, who also helped with the research, said the new methods target acne, reducing the risk of side effects. "Precisely controlled nanoscale delivery of drugs that are applied topically to the skin could significantly improve the treatment of skin bacterial infections," he said. "By delivering drugs directly to the bacteria of interest, we hope to boost antimicrobial efficacy and minimise off-target adverse effects. All building blocks of the nano-bombs are either natural products or have been approved for clinical use, which means these nano-bombs are likely to be tested on humans in the near future."

Pornpattananangkul, originally from Thailand, said that it's just a coincidence that her research involves a natural product produced by coconuts - a staple of Thai cuisine.

She presented her work on this experimental acne-drug-delivery system at Research Expo, the annual research conference of the University of California San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering on April 15.

Related Reading:

The Medicinal Uses of Breastmilk

More Ways to Use Breastmilk

[Note: Human milk should always first and foremost be given to the human babies it is intended for - via nursing and/or donation to those in need. However, mothers who find themselves with excess frozen milk that can no longer be donated, an over abundant supply, or the ability to express/pump as much as desired, may benefit from the wide variety of ways that human milk heals, protects, and can be used.]

Breastfeeding mothers are welcome to join the Breastfeeding Group: FB.com/groups/Breastfed

More ways to use human milk in the diet:

Breastmilk Popsicles

Mother's Milk Cheese

Encouraging Black Women to Embrace Breastfeeding

by Jennifer Ludden

posted with permission

American mothers as a whole do not breast-feed their babies as much as health experts would like, but African-American moms have the lowest rates of all — by some measures, they are half as likely to nurse as whites and Hispanics.

The federal government, some hospitals and nonprofits are trying different strategies to close this nursing gap, though no one seems sure exactly why the disparity exists.

Changing Perspectives

When Kathi Barber gave birth a decade ago, she was the first in her family in generations to nurse, and was dumbfounded to realize she had no role models. Barber became obsessed with encouraging nursing among black moms, as numerous studies show that exclusive breast-feeding can reduce a baby's chances of developing diabetes, obesity, ear infections and respiratory illness.

Yet Barber was frustrated that for many new mothers, their only image of this age-old act may come from a museum or a National Geographic documentary.

"Tribal women, with elongated breasts, earrings and tribal jewelry. And let's say we're trying to promote that to a 25-year-old, mmm ..." she laughs. "I don't think that's going to do the trick."

So Barber founded the African-American Breastfeeding Alliance and wrote The Black Woman's Guide to Breastfeeding. As a lactation consultant, she travels the country putting on workshops and training sessions, and encouraging hospitals and family clinics to reach out to this community.

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Nursing Rates And Demographics

For children born in 2006, a smaller percentage of African-American women exclusively breast-fed for three months.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Credit: Stephanie d'Otreppe/NPR

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Partnership And Peer Counseling

"People tell me it hurts," says 16-year-old Dijonna Hunter, due with her first child in February. But at the Developing Families Center in northeast Washington, D.C., where she's come for her maternal care, Hunter has learned about the health benefits of nursing. Hunter says she's determined to try it despite what her friends and mother tell her.

Experts say a supportive partner is key for successful breast-feeding, and Hunter's boyfriend, Anthony Frost, is trying. He's even taken to watching baby shows on television. But when asked if his mother nursed him, Frost makes clear that he finds the very notion disgusting. Angela Ewing-Boyd, the center's program manager, says she hears that a lot, even from women.

People say, "I can't imagine doing that to my child, and that's just nasty," she says. "It's like the primary function of the breast is one-dimensional."

So Ewing-Boyd has organized weekly peer-counseling sessions for pregnant women. On a recent afternoon, about a dozen of them sat in a circle, shifting to find a comfortable position on their folding chairs.

"I have a car," said counselor Joan Brickhouse, holding up a matchbox racer. "What does this have to do with breast-feeding?" She sent the car zooming across the floor as the women tossed out guesses — some sincere, a few snarky.

Brickhouse then told them, "You can take your breasts with you anywhere. On the airplane, you know, you can just whip it out!"

Other objects in this educational pop quiz stressed the health benefits of nursing and the economic advantage: breast milk, of course, is free, while formula can easily run $150 and more a month, which makes it all the more baffling why lower-income mothers of all races are more likely to choose formula.

In fact, the older, more educated and higher-income a mother is, the more likely she is to breast-feed. But experts say the disparity for African-Americans is so great it transcends socio-economics.

Barber says work is clearly a huge barrier, and black moms may be more likely to hold lower-wage jobs with no breaks allowed for nursing. African-Americans have also had to earn money since long before the women's liberation movement.

In fact, Barber thinks you can trace part of the problem all the way back to the breakup of families under slavery, and the enduring, negative image of so-called mammies — slaves made to serve as wet nurses for their master's white children.

That practice continued for domestic servants well past the end of slavery, and for Barber, it helps explain the ironies that played out later. In the 20th century, it was white, wealthy women who led the march to formula feeding, and minorities followed. But when white elites backtracked and made breast-feeding hip, most African-Americans didn't buy it.

"Infant formula became a thing of prestige," says Barber. "Breast-feeding was thought to be something that lower-class women did. So, if you can think of it as a political issue, it really is."

From Formula To Breast

Barber and others say another factor in low breast-feeding rates is aggressive marketing by the multibillion-dollar baby formula industry, which has convinced hospitals to hand out its products for free.

Barbara Philipp is medical director of the Birth Place at Boston Medical Center, and says numerous studies have looked at this.

"When I, as a physician in a white coat, or when a staff nurse with her hospital badge on, hand out that diaper bag that we get for free from the formula company," she says, "that mom and baby will go on to exclusively breast-feed for a shorter period of time."

A decade ago, Boston Medical Center launched a broad campaign to promote breast-feeding. It educated both its staff and clients. It started putting newborns in the same room with their mothers instead of carting them off to the nursery. And it stopped handing out free formula, something Philipp says caused a ruckus.

"It was seen as denying a free gift to poor women," she says.

But the number of mothers at the center who start out nursing has shot up to 90 percent, well above the national average for black mothers.

In fact, national rates have been rising for African-Americans — a study last year found that the number initiating breast-feeding had jumped from 36 percent in 1993-1994 to 65 percent in 2005-2006.

But that number still lags far behind whites and Hispanics, and figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the proportion who continues nursing exclusively soon plunges into single digits. Washington's Developing Families Center tries to stem this drop with follow-up visits to new moms.

Home Visit Lends Support

Counselor Tina Pangelinan steps into Kala Blue's small apartment five days after Blue delivered baby Kamya.

For the past two days, an exhausted Blue has struggled to get Kamya to latch on, and has instead been using the free formula the hospital gave her. The women sit side by side on the love seat as Pangelinan offers tips and suggestions, and Blue tries again and again, holding her frustrated baby first one way and then another.

Finally, after 20 long minutes, she succeeds. But Blue admits it just doesn't feel right. Pangelinan offers to come back tomorrow with a breast pump, so Blue can express her milk into a bottle.

"We're here for you," she tells Blue.

Whatever it takes to keep one more African-American baby getting mother's milk.

Lisa Uncles, a certified nurse-midwife who is the acting clinical director of the Family Health and Birth Center in Washington, D.C., visits a new mother a day after she gave birth. Clients of the center have fewer premature births, low birth weights and cesarean sections as compared with the D.C.'s African-American population overall.

Nurse-Midwife: The Way We Work

The U.S. has set 2010 targets for increased breast-feeding rates, but experts say they will largely go unmet.

Public health officials have waged two campaigns to promote breast-feeding in the U.S. The first was a century ago, when infant deaths from diarrhea were linked to spoiled, diluted or unpasteurized cow's milk in baby formula. The other was earlier this decade, when the Health and Human Services Department called for a mass-marketing effort to promote not just the benefits of breast-feeding, but the dangers of formula feeding. That led to two U.S. television ads.


BREASTFEEDING PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS

RESOURCES FOR THE BREASTFEEDING MOTHER

If You Nurse Your Baby...

By Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC
Photos © 2009 Danelle Frisbie

Breastfeeding your baby for even a day is the best baby gift you can give. Breastfeeding is almost always the best choice for your baby. If it doesn't seem like the best choice for you right now, these guidelines may help.

IF YOU NURSE YOUR BABY FOR JUST A FEW DAYS, he will have received your colostrum, or early milk. By providing antibodies and the food his brand-new body expects, nursing gives your baby his first - and easiest - "immunization" and helps get his digestive system going smoothly. Breastfeeding is how your baby expects to start, and helps your own body recover from the birth. Why not use your time in the hospital to prepare your baby for life through the gift of nursing?

IF YOU NURSE YOUR BABY FOR FOUR TO SIX WEEKS, you will have eased him through the most critical part of his infancy. Newborns who are not breastfed are much more likely to get sick or be hospitalized, and have many more digestive problems than breastfed babies. After 4 to 6 weeks, you'll probably have worked through any early nursing concerns, too. Make a serious goal of nursing for a month, call La Leche League or a Lactation Consultant if you have any questions, and you'll be in a better position to decide whether continued breastfeeding is for you.
 
IF YOU NURSE YOUR BABY FOR 4 MONTHS, her digestive system will have matured a great deal, and she will be much better able to tolerate the foreign substances in commercial formulas. If there is a family history of allergies, though, you will greatly reduce her risk by waiting a few more months before adding anything at all to her diet of breastmilk. And giving nothing but your milk for the first four months gives strong protection against ear infections for a whole year.
 
IF YOU NURSE YOUR BABY FOR 6 MONTHS, she will be much less likely to suffer an allergic reaction to formula or other foods. At this point, her body is probably ready to tackle some other foods, whether or not you wean. Nursing for at least 6 months helps ensure better health throughout your baby's first year of life, and reduces your own risk of breast cancer. Nursing for 6 months or more may greatly reduce your little one's risk of ear infections and childhood cancers. And exclusive, frequent breastfeeding during the first 6 months, if your periods have not returned, provides 98% effective contraception.
 
IF YOU NURSE YOUR BABY FOR 9 MONTHS, you will have seen him through the fastest and most important brain and body development of his life on the food that was designed for him - your milk. You may even notice that he is more alert and more active than babies who did not have the benefit of their mother's milk. Weaning may be fairly easy at this age... but then, so is nursing! If you want to avoid weaning this early, be sure you've been available to nurse for comfort as well as just for food.

IF YOU NURSE YOUR BABY FOR A YEAR, you can avoid the expense and bother of formula. Her one-year-old body can probably handle most of the table foods your family enjoys. Many of the health benefits this year of nursing has given your child will last her whole life. She will have a stronger immune system, for instance, and will be much less likely to need orthodontia or speech therapy. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends nursing for at least a year, to help ensure normal nutrition and health for your baby.

IF YOU NURSE YOUR BABY FOR 24 MONTHS, you will have continued to provide your baby's normal nutrition and protection against illness at a time when illness is common in other babies. Your baby is probably well started on table foods, too. He has had time to form a solid bond with you - a healthy starting point for his growing independence. And he is old enough that you and he can work together on the weaning process, at a pace that he can handle comfortably. A former U.S. Surgeon General said, "It is the lucky baby...that nurses to age two." [AAFP statement on nursing until at least 24 months.]

IF YOUR CHILD WEANS WHEN SHE IS READY, you can feel confident that you have met your baby's physical and emotional needs in a very normal, healthy way. In cultures where there is no pressure to wean, children tend to nurse for at least three years. The World Health Organization and UNICEF strongly encourage breastfeeding through toddlerhood: "Breastmilk is an important source of energy and protein, and helps to protect against disease during the child's second year of life."(1) Our biology seems geared to a weaning age of between 4 and 7 years(2), and it just makes sense to build our children's bones from the milk that was designed to build them.
 
Your milk provides antibodies and other protective substances as long as you continue nursing, and families of nursing toddlers often find that their medical bills are lower than their neighbors' for years to come. Mothers who have nursed longterm have a still lower risk of developing breast cancer. Children who were nursed longterm tend to be very secure, and are less likely to suck their thumbs or carry a blanket.
 
Nursing can help ease both of you through the tears, tantrums, and tumbles that come with early childhood, and helps ensure that any illnesses are milder and easier to deal with. It's an all-purpose mothering tool you won't want to be without! Don't worry that your child will nurse forever. All children stop eventually, no matter what you do, and there are more nursing toddlers around than you might guess.

Whether you nurse for a day or for several years, the decision to nurse your child is one you need never regret. And whenever weaning takes place, remember that it is a big step for both of you. If you choose to wean before your child is ready, be sure to do it gradually, and with love.

Got breastmilk? and other breastfeeding onesies and tshirts available at Made By Momma

References:

1.) Facts for Life: A Communication Challenge, published by UNICEF, WHO, and UNESCO, 1989
2.) Katherine Dettwyler. A Time to Wean. Breastfeeding Abstracts vol. 14 no 1 1994

©1997 Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC
Used with Permission
Email Diane or write to her for information on how to obtain more of her articles.
136 Ellis Hollow Creek Road
Ithaca, NY 14850


Related information:

Natural Weaning 

A Natural Age of Weaning

How Weaning Happens (book)

Baby-led Weaning (book)

Baby-led Weaning (website)

Breastfeeding Resource Page (books, articles, websites).

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