Article

2010-09-28 Science & Technology

Breastfeeding 'prevents baby infections,' research suggests - Who could have imagined?

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Posted by Besoeker 2010-09-28 07:40|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top

#1 aaand in latest breaking news... water has been found to be good for your health

you read these stories so many times... you know the ones. They usually start with "researchers" at some university miraculously "discovering" that breastfeeding is healthier for babies than formula

or some such really obvious fact

but now they've worked out how to explain it

so it must be good for us.

fools

however sometimes

they like to turn it on it's head and say something harmless is really bad

eg: oxygen kills! beware. We need to take oxygen out of the atmosphere.

or ... carbon dioxide is a toxic poison!

Posted by anon1 2010-09-28 07:51|| 2010-09-28 07:51|| Front Page Top

#2 You know I'm really going to have to submit that $50M grant application to determine the color of the clear [blue] sky.

Then there's the $100M grant application to determine the wetness of water....

Posted by CrazyFool 2010-09-28 08:31|| 2010-09-28 08:31|| Front Page Top

#3 I am personally very concerned about getting baby infections. What should I do?

Posted by Iblis 2010-09-28 09:58|| 2010-09-28 09:58|| Front Page Top

#4 This goes to show that a little knowledge might be an interesting thing.

That is, for about two weeks after birth, infants are still "running" on their mother's immune system in their bodies, their own immune system not having fully engaged. It is during this time, they uptake their first culture of intestinal flora, and it establishes itself in their gut.

This is anywhere from 300-1000 different species of bacteria, fungi, and even some protozoa, and a much greater number (as yet unknown) of viruses, most of which are bacteriophage, that is, infecting bacteria. Of which a subset of about 30-40 species of bacteria compose about 99%+ of the total.

Because some people equate "more is better" with healthy bacteria, some new mothers have taken to having feeding parties, in which new mothers pass their infants around, to feed off other women. Which will have unknown consequences for the health of their children.

Ironically, when the infant switches to solid food, their intestinal bacteria undergo a major change, so as to be able to digest their new diet. This change happens perhaps several more times in their life, stabilizing with their adult diet, depending on where they live in the world.

Lots of things can damage the flora, such as antibiotics, radiation, illness, etc. Considerable success with restoring a normal flora has been accomplished with something called a "fecal transplant", aka a "chocolate shake".

Posted by Anonymoose 2010-09-28 10:42|| 2010-09-28 10:42|| Front Page Top

#5 I need 100K so we can finally come to an agreement on the color of sh*t!

Posted by bigjim-CA 2010-09-28 17:02|| 2010-09-28 17:02|| Front Page Top

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