Rich in nutrients, immune-boosting proteins and beneficial bacteria, breast milk has long been hailed as nature’s perfect food for babies. Now, a Rutgers University-led study suggests that breast milk is more than just nourishment. Breast milk also is a biological clock, sending time-sensitive signals to help guide a baby’s development. With breast milk, timing might be an important consideration, especially when feeding expressed breast milk.
Researchers from Rutgers and the University of Puerto Rico have discovered that breast milk changes in composition depending on the time of day it’s produced. Their findings, published in Frontiers in Nutrition, show that crucial hormones such as melatonin and cortisol, which are substances known for regulating sleep and stress, fluctuate in breast milk over a 24-hour period.
“Breast milk is a dynamic food,” said Melissa Woortman, a recent doctoral degree graduate from the Department of Nutritional Sciences in the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and the study’s lead author. “We found that the concentrations of bioactive components vary depending on the time of day, which means the timing of feeding expressed milk could be important.” To read the full story.