Human breast milk can save or treat COVID-19 not only in young children but also in vulnerable adults, according to developing evidence.
A developing library of clinical articles published since the beginning of COVID-19 suggests that the virus is not only not transmitted from mother to child through breast milk, but breast milk would possibly be the key to neutralizing the virus in its entirety.
It is well established that breast milk antibodies that help babies’ immature immune system fight infections. Each antibody is highly targeted at pathogens in the vicinity of the breastfeeding mother; When the mother comes into contact with a pathogen, she creates antibodies specially designed to bind to that agent. These antibodies enter breast milk and, when ingested, confer passive immunity to the pathogen in question.
With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, doctors hypothesized that mothers who had become inflamed with COVID-19 may produce antibodies opposed to the virus, which can be transmitted to their babies through breast milk.
The investigation so far results in this. Scientists at the University of Amsterdam say they have discovered several evidence resources of the presence of a variety of effective antibodies opposed to SARS-CoV-2 in the breast milk of women with crowns, without such antibodies being provided at controls.
“The mother’s framework produces antibodies capable of neutralizing coronavirus,” Professor Albert Heck, one of the researchers, said in a report from the University of Utrecht. “The fact that they are also discovered in breast milk is probably for your young children ideally, we will find many very strong antibodies opposed to COVID in breast milk. Second, this milk can be used not only for young children, but also for patients vulnerable to COVID. »
Dutch researchers also found that these hard antibodies are not destroyed by the pasteurization process, meaning that breast milk could be safely administered as “flavored ice cubes” to combat the pandemic. “Antibodies need to come into contact with the mucosa. “membranes for as long as it is imaginable to actually create this protective layer,” Britt van Keulen, a researcher at the University of Amsterdam Medical Center, told The Times. “When you drink it, it disappears quickly. Our concept is to give it in the form of ice cubes, so it takes a little longer, there is more contact with the mucous membranes to create this layer.
This is the same precept used in plasma treatment, according to which antibodies in the blood plasma of cured patients are transferred to those in poor health; scientists recommend that antibodies in human breast milk be more durable and therefore perhaps more effective than those in the blood.
One of the scientists is Rebecca Powell, a breast milk immunologist and assistant professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, who told the Wire that she imagines using antibodies derived from breast milk to cure breast milk. breathing. that patients can simply inhale, similar to the asthma remedy, sending antibodies directly to the site of infection. “IgA-secreting antibodies, like those found in milk, pack through the frame to be very durable,” Powell explains in The Wire report. “This allows them to do it in environments like the breath or the digestive tract. The non-unusual peak antibodies in the blood are a less durable type called IgG. This may make breast milk antibodies a more useful prospective cure than convalescent plasma. “
But antibodies are the only anti-COVID actives in breast milk.
Like blood, breast milk is a living fluid that contains bacteria, antibodies, white blood cells, antimicrobials, and proteins that cover bad viruses and bacteria.
The antiviral properties of breast milk have been shown to be opposed to HIV and hepatitis C viruses, while their antimicrobial properties strongly inhibit the spread of pathogenic bacteria, while en allow bacteria to grow (unlike antibiotics, which kill all types of bacteria).
Chinese researchers have investigated those harsh antimicrobial houses that would also be paintings opposed to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
After infecting breast milk cells with the virus, scientists at Beijing University of Chemical Technology have discovered that whey protein in human breast milk can well inhibit coronavirus with 98% effectiveness by “blocking viral binding, access, and even post-access viral replication. “
His studies showed that whey proteins from other species such as cows and goats also had anti-coronavirus properties, at a lower level.
Breast milk samples were taken before the pandemic, meaning donors would not have become inflamed with the virus and would not have their own antibodies against the virus.
Interestingly, the main known antimicrobial parts of breast milk, such as lactoferrin and IgA antibodies, have shown limited anti-coronavirus activity, indicating that other points in breast milk would possibly play an anti-coronavirus role.
Researchers hope that new studies to identify the main antiviral points involved in human breast milk can play a role in the progression of antiviral drugs.
Emerging studies are very exciting, says Amy Vogelaar, a breastfeeding representative founded in the United Arab Emirates, a qualified partner in the United States and co-founder of Love Parenting UAE, she predicts that everything is very initial at the moment and has not yet done so. “but it makes a lot of sense, because we know 100 percent that breast milk protects young people from so many known microbial infections and we know that it strengthens their immature immune formula with the antibodies of the mother opposed to the microbes she and her baby have found.
Vogelaar uses the example of oligosaccharides, sugars in breast milk that were once considered dead because young children cannot digest them. “When I became a parter, I was taught that they are only going through young children and that they are second, scientists discovered that gut microbes fed on oligosaccharides, which is one of the reasons why young children fed breast milk had microbiomes and other young children fed formula. Since then, they have started adding oligosaccharides to the formula ».
The aptitude of the microbiome is also applicable to COVID, he says, “because it turns out to have an effect on immune responses such as cytokine storms that have contributed to mortality in so many COVID patients. “
“Can the parts of breast milk the immune reaction to make it more favorable and less destructive? We know that this reduces the rates of obesity, which is a massive thing in the severity of COVID. What about breast milk that prevents the obesity? We don’t know. ” completely.
The increased clinical interest in the harsh conditions of breast milk has long been delayed, Vogelaar says. “We know very little about breast milk and how it works, which is a waste. Breast milk is a living substance with an incredibly well-established aptitude. promotional movements and components, however, many other people still see it as a formula for more embarrassing packaging. I think this is natural magic, however, there is science that can be obtained if we invest time and resources.
While governments, first, were wary of the rules of breastfeeding, pandemic, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But it’s not the first time They first advised that an inflamed mother be separated from her baby, which she replaced today. suggesting that the virus is not transmitted through breast milk, and the World Health Organization (WHO) warns that even when mothers have COVID-19, “the benefits of breastfeeding far outweigh the potential dangers of transmission. “»
This is reinforced by the rules of the Dubai Health Authority, which recommends that a mother who breastfeeds inflamed by COVID talk to her doctor about whether she deserves to continue breastfeeding, shoot instead or postpone breastfeeding.
To the extent that emerging studies affect pregnant women and new moms in the United Arab Emirates, breastfeeding representative Amy Vogelaar says: “There is no better time than now to do everything possible to breastfeed if that’s what you need to do: do what it is to start breastfeeding well and continue breastfeeding for as long as possible.
“Although young children and young children have been so under-affected by the virus, it can replace it at any time as the virus mutates and, of course, some domestic dogs have been more affected than others. And who knows what the next wonderful pandemic will be?
“One of the glorious aspects I see of life with coronavirus is the number of mothers who breastfeed more than they would otherwise. They are blocked, fleeing the house and even mothers who have lost their jobs (as dissatisfied as them). are) all report more breastfeeding and longer breastfeeding. There is no more time than a viral pandemic to do just that. “
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