From mother to baby: 'Secondhand sugars' can pass through breast milk
A new study by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC indicates that a sugar called fructose is passed from mother to infant through breast milk. The proof-of-concept study involving 25 mothers and infants provides preliminary evidence that even fructose equivalent to the weight of a grain of rice in a full day's serving of breast milk is associated with increased body weight, muscle and bone mineral content. Found in fruit, processed food and soda, fructose is not a natural component of breast milk, which is still considered the gold standard diet for babies. The "secondhand sugar" is derived from a mom's diet, said Michael Goran, lead author of the new study published in February in the journal Nutrients . Exposing infants and children to higher amounts of sugar during growth and development can produce problems with cognitive development and learning as well as create lifelong risk for obesity, diabetes, fatty liver disease and heart disease, said...