Sunny D
Independent.co.uk
"It's the great cancer cover-up. Panicked into avoiding sunlight by health experts, we are now dying in our thousands from diseases linked to deficiencies of vitamin D. But still the exaggerated warnings come. Oliver Gillie reveals how sunbathing can save your life..." [This two-part, detailed article briefly references breastfeeding, saying human milk is "deficient" in Vit. D. - JC]





25 January 2004





How many times have you heard it: 'There's no such thing as a healthy tan.' Second only to 'smoking kills', avoiding the sun is the health advice that has most permeated our conciousness. Young and old, rich and poor, everyone knows that exposure to the sun puts us at risk of skin cancer. But does it? What if the advice we've been given to avoid the sun is wrong? What if hiding your skin from those seductive rays is putting your health in danger?"

Can International Standards Prevent Corporate Malpractice? The Case of Baby Food
23 January 2004
OneWorld.net -
"Globalization is sometimes portrayed as a recent phenomenon. Yet over 100 years ago the baby food industry was already an international business, with Nestlé exporting cereal milk food to Latin America and the Dutch East Indies, and soon afterwards opening factories in target markets. Over 60 years ago health campaigners began to notice the impact on health of the aggressive promotion of breastmilk substitutes...."

Dundee professor hails benefits of "good bacteria"
Evening Telegraph
23 January 2004
"So-called "good bacteria", as advertised by yogurt and dairy drink companies, has massive health benefits and could significantly reduce the risk of cancer, says a Dundee University academic, writes Maura Bowman.

Professor John Cummings, who holds a personal chair in experimental gastroenterology, says that we can influence the growth of these "good" bacteria by eating the correct diet.... Professor Cummings said that a group of carbohydrates, known as oligosaccharides, have been found to have such an effect. These could easily be incorporated in foods as a substitute for sugar and they are found naturally in artichokes, members of the onions, leeks and garlic family, in beans, peas and soyas and, to a lesser extent, in cereals. In addition, they are found in "huge quantities" in breast milk and may help to explain the protection breast-fed babies have from infection, said the professor."

AP Wire | 01/23/2004 | FDA Warns Supplement May Be Infant Formula
Posted on Fri, Jan. 23, 2004
FDA Warns Supplement May Be Infant Formula
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration warned consumers Friday not to feed their infants a product sold over the Internet as a dietary supplement because it may be an infant formula.
Although the product 'Better than Formula Ultra Infant Immune Booster 117,' sold by NSP Research Nutrition of Mt. Clemens, Mich., is labeled as a dietary supplement, it may in fact be an infant formula, the FDA said."

Sextuplets' mom expresses thanks for support
Friday, January 23, 2004
By John Agar
The Grand Rapids Press
"Amy Van Houten, the mother of sextuplets born in Grand Rapids this month, called her babies an 'absolute miracle' and thanked family and friends for prayers from around the world in a public appearance today. ...
There are encouraging signs to warm the heart, Ben Van Houten said. On Wednesday, both girls -- Samantha and Kennedy -- began taking breast milk through a tube. "

AP Wire | 01/23/2004 | FDA Warns Supplement May Be Infant Formula
Posted on Fri, Jan. 23, 2004
FDA Warns Supplement May Be Infant Formula
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration warned consumers Friday not to feed their infants a product sold over the Internet as a dietary supplement because it may be an infant formula.
Although the product 'Better than Formula Ultra Infant Immune Booster 117,' sold by NSP Research Nutrition of Mt. Clemens, Mich., is labeled as a dietary supplement, it may in fact be an infant formula, the FDA said."

Artificial Amniotic Fluid
" HealthCentral.com - News - Unknown 0/0/0
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- When babies are born premature, one of the challenges is getting them to tolerate breast milk or formula. New research shows mimicking nature may overcome that challenge. Baby Jarell got an early start to life. 'He was two pounds and 10 ounces, and when he came out, he came out crying,' Jarell's mother, Richelle Taylor-Harris, tells Ivanhoe."

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Oasis of medical care in desert of destruction[This Guardian article on Médecins San Frontières involvement in the Sudan gives an interesting peek into the basics of treating malnourished infants - JC]: "The therapeutic feeding centre is one of Akuem's busiest sections. With around 75 children, it is well below the peak of around 300 which it had earlier in the year, but it still gives an impression of bustling urgency. The most malnourished, who often have other medical complications such as diarrhoea and pulmonary infections, get intravenous feeding in the intensive care unit before moving to the outside area.

There they sleep and sit on mats while mothers, and a few fathers, press orange plastic cups of milk to their lips. 'In the first phase they get breast milk plus a supplement,' says Nancy Dale, a nurse from Canada who supervises the feeding centre. 'Then they move to milk plus plumpy nut, a concoction of peanuts, oil, and sugar, until they reach the target ratio of weight to height.' ... "

Magazine Bares All, Has Shop Covering Up Cover

Santa Fe New Mexican
January 12
"Increasing the number of women who nurse their babies is a goal of the U.S. government. But pictures of breast-feeding, which is as old as humankind and strongly recommended for infant health, is apparently offensive to some. After receiving several complaints about the latest issue of Mothering magazine, which shows a nursing mother and contented baby, the Vitamin Cottage on Cerrillos Road covered the offending breast with paper...."

Unlocking the mysteries of milk
The Globe and Mail
By STEPHEN STRAUSS
Saturday, January 17, 2004 - Page F8
If the latest promises of science are to be believed, the advertisements informing us that "milk does a body good" may soon have to be revised to read: "Better milk does a body even better." At least, that is the goal of the Milk Genome Project.

Scotsman.com News - Features - Children of the revolution[ This interesting article on gay parenting includes a reference to a woman who pumped and sent breast milk to her child for six months: - Jc] "
The surrogate mother FedExed them breast milk for six months. 'She altered my view of what it means to be emotionally generous,' says Busch..."

"

IOL : Ex-pinup supplies 3 litres of milk a day: " years ago, shapely blonde beauty Belinda Hall's special assets earned her the South African Penthouse Pet of the Year title.

She got fame, adoration - six million men voted her into the number one slot - and the chance to travel and live overseas.

She was also hailed as Miss October in the United States' Pet of the Year honours.

Now, although that has all been replaced with marriage and motherhood (her husband is Pinetown lawyer Andre Liebenberg), she is still something of a star.



'I knew my boobs would come in useful one day'
For not only does the new mom provide her four-month-old Down's Syndrome son, Anthony, with a litre of breast milk a day, she also supplies another two litres a day to a unique milk bank.

"

The Globe and MailSmoking continues to exact a deadly toll
100 babies die each year due to maternal smoking, new Health Canada data show
By?ANDR? PICARD
PUBLIC HEALTH REPORTER
Tuesday, January 13, 2004 - Page A15
Globe and Mail
Almost 100 babies under the age of 1 die each year in Canada of smoking-related causes, according to new Health Canada data. he research, a detailed analysis of mortality attributable to tobacco use, reveals that smoking killed almost 48,000 Canadians in 1998 -- accounting for almost one in every four deaths. The report lists, in clinical detail, 22 adult and four pediatric diseases that are smoking-related, along with detailed mortality data. [Wouldn't it be interesting if Health Canada calculated the morality attributable to not breastfeeding...? - JC]

Breastfeeding best for infant, HIV mothers in Africa told: " Research shows health benefits for the newborn outweigh the risks of transmitting disease through milk, STEPHANIE NOLEN writes

By STEPHANIE NOLEN
The Globe and Mail
Tuesday, January 6, 2004 - Page A10 "