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      Milk Therapy: Unexpected Uses for Human Breast Milk

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          Abstract

          Background: Human breast milk provides a child with complete nutrition but is also a popular therapeutic remedy that has been used in traditional, natural pharmacopeia, and ethnomedicine for many years. The aim of this current review is to summarize studies of non-nutritional uses of mothers’ milk. Methods: Two databases (PubMed and Google Scholar) were searched with a combination of twelve search terms. We selected articles that were published between 1 January 2010, and 1 January 2019. The language of publication was limited to English. Results: Fifteen studies were included in the systematic review. Ten of these were randomized controlled trials, one was a quasi-experimental study, two were in vitro studies, and four employed an animal research model. Conclusions: Many human milk components have shown promise in preclinical studies and are undergoing active clinical evaluation. The protective and treatment role of fresh breast milk is particularly important in areas where mothers and infants do not have ready access to medicine.

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          Inhibition of Staphylococcus aureus by the commensal bacteria of human milk.

          P Saris, M. Heikkilä (2002)
          To study the bacterial diversity in expressed human milk with a focus on detecting bacteria with an antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, known as a causative agent of maternal breast infections and neonatal infections. Random isolates (n = 509) were collected from breast milk samples (n = 40) of healthy lactating women, genotypically identified, and tested for antimicrobial activity against Staph. aureus. Commensal staphylococci (64%) and oral streptococci (30%), with Staph. epidermidis, Strep. salivarius, and Strep. mitis as the most frequent isolates, were the predominant bacterial species in breast milk. One-fifth of Staph. epidermidis and half of Strep. salivarius isolates suppressed growth of Staph. aureus. Enterococci (Ent. faecalis), isolated from 7.5% of samples, and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) (Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lact. crispatus, Lactococcus lactis, Leuconoctoc mesenteroides), isolated from 12.5% of samples, were also effective against Staph. aureus. One L. lactis isolate was shown to produce nisin, a bacteriocin used in food industry to prevent bacterial pathogens and spoilage. Expressed breast milk contains commensal bacteria, which inhibit Staph. aureus. The strains inhibitory against the pathogen Staph. aureus have potential use as bacteriotherapeutic agents in preventing neonatal and maternal breast infections caused by this bacterium.
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            Immune cell-mediated protection of the mammary gland and the infant during breastfeeding.

            Foteini Hassiotou, Donna T Geddes (2015)
            Breastfeeding has been regarded first and foremost as a means of nutrition for infants, providing essential components for their unique growth and developmental requirements. However, breast milk is also rich in immunologic factors, highlighting its importance as a mediator of protection. In accordance with its evolutionary origin, the mammary gland offers via the breastfeeding route continuation of the maternal to infant immunologic support established in utero. At birth, the infant's immune system is immature, and although it was exposed to the maternal microbial flora during pregnancy, it experiences an abrupt change in its microbial environment during and after birth, which is challenging and renders the infant highly susceptible to infection. Active and passive immunity protects the infant via breast milk, which is rich in immunoglobulins, lactoferrin, lysozyme, cytokines, and numerous other immunologic factors, including maternal leukocytes. Breast milk leukocytes provide active immunity and promote development of immunocompetence in the infant. Additionally, it has been speculated that they play a role in the protection of the mammary gland from infection. Leukocytes are thought to exert these functions via phagocytosis, secretion of antimicrobial factors and/or antigen presentation in both the mammary gland and the gastrointestinal tract of the infant, and also in other infant tissues, where they are transported via the systemic circulation. Recently, it has been demonstrated that breast milk leukocytes respond dynamically to maternal as well as infant infections, and are fewer in nonexclusively compared with exclusively breastfeeding dyads, further emphasizing their importance for both the mother and infant. This review summarizes the current knowledge of human milk leukocytes and factors influencing them, and presents recent novel findings supporting their potential as a diagnostic marker for infections of the lactating breast and of the breastfed infant.
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              Treatment of skin papillomas with topical alpha-lactalbumin-oleic acid.

              Lotta Gustafsson, Ann-Kristin Mossberg, A Aronsson … (2004)
              We studied the effect on skin papillomas of topical application of a complex of alpha-lactalbumin and oleic acid (often referred to as human alpha-lactalbumin made lethal to tumor cells [HAMLET]) to establish proof of the principle that alpha-lactalbumin-oleic acid kills transformed cells but not healthy, differentiated cells. Forty patients with cutaneous papillomas that were resistant to conventional treatment were enrolled in a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study, in which alpha-lactalbumin-oleic acid or saline placebo was applied daily for three weeks and the change in the volume of each lesion was recorded. After this first phase of the study, 34 patients participated in the second phase, an open-label trial of a three-week course of alpha-lactalbumin-oleic acid. Approximately two years after the end of the open-label phase of the study, 38 of the original 40 patients were examined, and long-term follow-up data were obtained. In the first phase of the study, the lesion volume was reduced by 75 percent or more in all 20 patients in the alpha-lactalbumin-oleic acid group, and in 88 of 92 papillomas; in the placebo group, a similar effect was evident in only 3 of 20 patients (15 of 74 papillomas) (P<0.001). After the patients in the initial placebo group had been treated with alpha-lactalbumin-oleic acid in the second phase of the study, a median reduction of 82 percent in lesion volume was observed. At follow-up two years after the end of the second phase, all lesions had completely resolved in 83 percent of the patients treated with alpha-lactalbumin-oleic acid, and the time to resolution was shorter in the group originally assigned to receive alpha-lactalbumin-oleic acid than among patients originally in the placebo group (2.4 vs. 9.9 months; P<0.01). No adverse reactions were reported, and there was no difference in the outcomes of treatment between immunocompetent and immunosuppressed patients. Treatment with topical alpha-lactalbumin-oleic acid has a beneficial and lasting effect on skin papillomas. Copyright 2004 Massachusetts Medical Society
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Nutrients
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Nutrients
                Journal ID (publisher-id): nutrients
                Title: Nutrients
                Publisher: MDPI
                ISSN (Electronic): 2072-6643
                Publication date (Electronic): 26 April 2019
                Publication date Collection: May 2019
                Volume: 11
                Issue: 5
                Electronic Location Identifier: 944
                Affiliations
                Department of Biophysics and Human Physiology, Medical University of Warsaw, Chalubinskiego 5, 02-004 Warsaw, Poland; malirob@ 123456poczta.onet.pl (E.K.-E.-H.); mwzgenetyka@ 123456onet.pl (E.W.)
                Author notes
                [* ]Correspondence: mwitkowska@ 123456wum.edu.pl ; Tel.: +48-22-628-63-34; Fax: +48-22-628-78-46
                Author information
                https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2167-8657
                Article
                Publisher ID: nutrients-11-00944
                DOI: 10.3390/nu11050944
                PMC ID: 6567207
                PubMed ID: 31027386
                SO-VID: 5fbbfae0-9d75-44a2-a6dd-090df43b40d3
                Copyright © © 2019 by the authors.
                License:

                Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

                History
                Date received : 27 March 2019
                Date accepted : 25 April 2019
                Categories
                Subject: Communication

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Nutrition & Dietetics
                Keywords: human milk benefits,colostrum,milk therapy,bioactive factors
                Data availability:
                ScienceOpen disciplines: Nutrition & Dietetics
                Keywords: human milk benefits, colostrum, milk therapy, bioactive factors

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