Literature Review: Breastmilk Quality Varies by the Hour

Working on an article about moob juice. Here's a discussion of one of my sources.

I’ve HILARIOUSLY been accused multiple times recently of somehow being pro-male breastfeeding. So let me start by being very clear: no males should attempt to breastfeed an infant.

With that out of the way, let’s make sure we have some basic understanding first, and for that I am going to review some literature looking at breastfeeding qua breastfeeding (female breastfeeding, as it apparently now must be known). Breastmilk may come from the chest, but like many things in reproductive biology, the production of these secretions follows a complex rhythm that is controlled by the brain. This article examined in depth the complex relationship between the brain’s circadian rhythm and the quality of milk production. At different times of the day and night, in other words, the quality of the milk produced by the mother is measurably different.

“Results: A total of 83 reports assessing the circadian variation in the concentration of 71 human milk components were included. Heterogeneity among studies was high. The methodological quality varied widely. Significant circadian variation is found in tryptophan, fats, triacylglycerol, cholesterol, iron, melatonin, cortisol, and cortisone. This may play a role in the child's growth and development in terms of the biological clock.”