Can Babies Taste Spices from Breast Milk?
Written by Thin Han
Edited by Connie Quan
March 21, 2022
Edited by Connie Quan
March 21, 2022
There is often a lot of advice and lessons passed down to new moms about what they should and should not eat while breastfeeding their babies. Personally, my mom would tell me stories about how she was only allowed to eat bland food, which was a hard task because in my culture, almost all of our food involves spices. On that note, scientists recently tested the hypothesis of whether or not the spices that a mother consumes actually gets passed from her breast milk to her newborn babies. Specifically, they tested the three main ingredients in curry: chili, pepper, and ginger. These three ingredients are broken down into three compounds in the body, which are capsaicin, piperine, and 6-gingerol respectively. They used both untargeted and targeted UPLC-MS(ultra-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometer) for the procedure, which is a technique that is used to separate different compounds in the breast milk.
They found that both the 6-gingerol and capsaicin broke down into smaller compounds from cooking processes, so those smaller compounds were not found in the breast milk. The scientists hypothesized that this was due to either metabolic breakdown or hindered diffusion. However, with piperine, they found that, although the uptake and transfer into the milk was not immediate, there was a small amount of it in the milk after some time. Still, they hypothesized that because the concentration is in such a small amount, it most likely cannot be consciously perceived by the baby. However, the scientists also pointed out that it is still important to note that the piperine will still react with the TRPV-receptors of the baby which could lead to increased tolerance to the spice with age. They concluded the results of their experiment by stating that the barrier between the mom’s blood circulation and her mammary glands are comparable to that of the blood brain barrier which could explain why only a few compounds are passed into the breastmilk. In conclusion, if you are a breastfeeding mother, you can eat your spices (at a safe, moderate amount), because your baby will not taste them!
Image Source: “New mother feeding baby with breast Free Vector” by pch.vector licensed under Freepik License