Yuck! Mom, what are you eating?!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Breast milk gives babies the nourishment they need. But is that ALL it delivers?
Enter Xin Cheng and team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. They tested breast milk from nearly five hundred mothers across China. Using mass spectrometry to detect tiny molecules, they searched the milk for chemicals.
Findings? Caffeine, and nearly two hundred other pollutants! These impurities came from food, cosmetics, and even air pollution. Some of these chemicals can disrupt hormones or affect brain development in infants.
Our daily habits may be leaving more than just love in our babies’ bottles.
So moms, don’t drink or breathe or wear anything bad! Don’t even think about it!
Reference: Cheng, X., Gao, L., Cao, X., et al. Identification and prioritization of organic pollutants in human milk from the Yangtze River Delta, China. Environ Sci Technol 58, 11935–11944 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c02909