Human milk protective effect

Reynolds and del Rio (1984) found that both casein and whey proteins significantly reduced the extent of caries, with the former exerting the greater effect. Further evidence for the protective effect of casein was provided in a study on rats fed casein-enriched chocolate (Reynolds and Black, 1987). However, the palatibility of this innovative product was considered unacceptable for humans Concentrates containing various levels of whey protein, calcium, and phosphorus, but negligible amounts of casein, significantly reduced the incidence of dental caries in rats (Harper et al, 1987). Thus, there is evidence that milk proteins, calcium, and phosphate all exert an anticariogenic effect. 

There are factors in maternal milk that maintain neonatal gastrointestinal integrity. For example, breast milk has been shown to be protective against necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a serious disease characterized by ulceration and necrosis of the neonatal gastrointestinal tract. In a prospective multicenter study involving 926 preterm infants, Lucas and Cole (1) demonstrated that the incidence of NEC was 6-10 times more common in neonates fed conventional infant formula than in neonates fed breast milk. Additional evidence for the protective effect of human milk was provided by Schanler et al. (2), who reported that the incidence of NEC in a randomized clinical trial involving 171 preterm infants was inversely related to the quantity of human milk fed. 

There is an additional protection against residues, because antibiotics in meat tend to be destroyed by cooking.. For example, Broquist and Kohler found that chicken breast muscle containing 12 parts per million of chlortetracycline had 0.14 parts per million after roasting at 230 C for 15 minutes and no detectable amounts after half an hour. The original level of 12 ppm was about 60 times as high as would be produced by 400 ppm in the animal feed, without a withdrawal period W. The UK Swann Committee reported that the only possible effect of residues on consumers arose from penicillin in milk from cows treated for udder infections in which the withdrawal time for the antibiotic had not been observed. Cases of skin rashes were reported from the consumption of such milk by sensitive patients. The Committee commented that "there are no known instances in which harmful effects in human beings have resulted from antibiotic residues in food other than milk" ( ) ... 

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