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Breast-Feeding the Microbiome

newyorker.com

11–20 of 53 posts

Re: Breast-Feeding the Microbiome

#11
post #7

I don't understand why HN is so obsessed with gut bacteria. I don't oppose posting it, I just don't understand the fascination.

Our gut bacteria is the interested party - not our brains. Microbiomes are really excited to finally be getting some press for all their hard work.

Re: Breast-Feeding the Microbiome

#12
post #7

I don't understand why HN is so obsessed with gut bacteria. I don't oppose posting it, I just don't understand the fascination.

I suspect, from my own anecdata, it's because a great many of us in the field have had gut issues. A lot of us lead lifestyles that aren't necessarily the greatest (although I feel overall that old adage is changing for the better rapidly) and have a deep interest in fixing the problem. Plus, knowing how things work, biological, electrical, whatever.. it all fits the hacker ethos

Re: Breast-Feeding the Microbiome

#13
post #6
post #2

> “We got eighty litres, collected over two years, from someone random at Stanford University, who said, ‘I have all this milk. Do you guys want it?’ ” Wow... that's quite an amount. So human milk doesn't "expire"? Why does cow milk expire then, and what exactly is expiry in the context of milk?

They say to only keep frozen breast milk for up to 3 months though.

I think this has more to do with residential freezers being opened/closed regularly, and doing defrost cycles.

Re: Breast-Feeding the Microbiome

#14
post #7

I don't understand why HN is so obsessed with gut bacteria. I don't oppose posting it, I just don't understand the fascination.

Well, it's literally seen as a medical revolution.

"There is increasing evidence that the microbiome and its output (our interactome) touch many, if not most, pathways that affect health, disease, and aging. It is reasonable to propose that the composition of the microbiome and its activities are involved in most, if not all, of the biological processes that constitute human health and disease, as we proceed through our own life cycle"

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4191014/

Re: Breast-Feeding the Microbiome

#15
> Every mammal mother produces complex sugars called oligosaccharides, but human moth­ers, for some reason, churn out an exceptional variety: so far, scientists have identified more than two hundred human milk oligosaccharides, or H.M.O.s.

The second part is very suspicious or at least misleading. I guess that chimpanzees and bonobos have a similar milk composition.

Re: Breast-Feeding the Microbiome

#16
post #2

> “We got eighty litres, collected over two years, from someone random at Stanford University, who said, ‘I have all this milk. Do you guys want it?’ ” Wow... that's quite an amount. So human milk doesn't "expire"? Why does cow milk expire then, and what exactly is expiry in the context of milk?

Cow's milk from the store expires in the manner it does due to the processing. Raw milk eventually turns into yogurt, but is still consumable (and delicious, imo).

I'd say they froze the milk in question though, just thought I'd mention it.

Re: Breast-Feeding the Microbiome

#17
post #7

I don't understand why HN is so obsessed with gut bacteria. I don't oppose posting it, I just don't understand the fascination.

Because the paleo- and keto-eating HN master race are curious about answers to the question "why would anyone eat anything else?"

Re: Breast-Feeding the Microbiome

#18
post #6
post #2

> “We got eighty litres, collected over two years, from someone random at Stanford University, who said, ‘I have all this milk. Do you guys want it?’ ” Wow... that's quite an amount. So human milk doesn't "expire"? Why does cow milk expire then, and what exactly is expiry in the context of milk?

They say to only keep frozen breast milk for up to 3 months though.

"They" are talking about milk for human consumption, not milk for research being kept in -40C freezers.

Re: Breast-Feeding the Microbiome

#19
post #7

I don't understand why HN is so obsessed with gut bacteria. I don't oppose posting it, I just don't understand the fascination.

It's a relatively new field of medicine, with some compelling evidence that it might help. Importantly, the microbiome is very amenable to manipulation - directed and undirected. There's very much a prospect for being able to design the microbiome - something that's logically appealing to the mindset of many people who post on HN.

Re: Breast-Feeding the Microbiome

#20
post #2

> “We got eighty litres, collected over two years, from someone random at Stanford University, who said, ‘I have all this milk. Do you guys want it?’ ” Wow... that's quite an amount. So human milk doesn't "expire"? Why does cow milk expire then, and what exactly is expiry in the context of milk?

That's it? We had a chest freezer full of the stuff within two months of my daughter's arrival.
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