Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

Show NLP summaries collection recirc on article pages

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

In photos: The 149th running of the Preakness Stakes

Book Tour: At home with Amor Towles

Gov. Doug Burgum speaks in support of Trump

Blue Origin to fly again as space tourism struggles to get off the ground

Why this company’s biggest fans turned against it

These ISIS news anchors are AI fakes. Their propaganda is real.

‘Never Trump?’ ‘Never Biden’ voters might loom larger.

How Jim Jordan tried to connect the dots on Biden’s $8 million book deal

Lawyer preparation suggests Trump won’t testify in New York trial

Biden’s false claim that inflation was 9 percent when he took office

Did Obamacare ‘massively’ increase the cost of health care?

The other side of Punta Cana: A crackdown on Haitians

Top White House aide to meet Netanyahu, who is under political pressure

Live updates: Rescuers struggle to find helicopter carrying Iranian president

Kyle Finnegan’s rare hiccup helps Phillies to a 4-3 win in 10 innings

Joey Gallo returns, but Nats endure another quiet offensive night

Walter Johnson’s jersey from 1920 showdown with Babe Ruth sold at auction

The world’s coolest hotels want to tell you a story

6 Airbnb red flags to spot before you make a booking mistake

Flying budget airlines might not be as cheap as it seems

Would you eat this weird sandwich? Barry Enderwick would. 

She finished chemo then got a medical degree: ‘The dream is real now’

Puppy abandoned with heart-rending note is adopted, named Minerva

Carolyn Hax: Friends say to break other plans to avoid offending new man

Ask Amy: Should my husband get a say in what I do with my inheritance?

Ask Amy: Can’t a single woman eat alone without interruption?

The problem with diversity statements — and what to do about them

Russia shows resilience. There is more to do for Ukraine.

Trump promises tax cuts and fewer rules. CEOs shouldn’t fall for it.

US President Joe Biden departure

Healthy living, including food, fitness, longevity and mental health

See more coverage in your recommendations

See alerts for Health and Wellness developments

Health & wellness

Tips on living better delivered every Thursday

Well+Being newsletter

Health alerts

Health & Science alerts

iStock

Many parents have heard the term “breast is best,” a saying to convey the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/features/breastfeeding-benefits/index.html#:~:text=Breastfeeding%20can%20help%20protect%20babies,ear%20infections%20and%20stomach%20bugs" target="_blank">health benefits </a>of breast milk, over formula, for infants. Studies have shown it can protect babies from diseases, by providing antibodies from the mother, while also reducing the lactating parent’s risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

Yet studies have also shown that <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2569122/#:~:text=In%20recent%20years%2C%20additional%20chemicals,POPs%20persist%20in%20women's%20milk." target=_blank>contaminants</a>, such as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4606957/#:~:text=Based%20on%20the%20reviewed%20studies,chlorinated%20pesticides%20in%20breast%20milk." target=_blank>pesticides</a> and flame retardant chemicals, are in human milk. A recent study adds microplastics, or tiny microscopic plastic particles, to that list.

As a breastfeeding mom of two, I wondered: Should I be worried? Is breast milk still really best?

“It’s definitely concerning when we find chemicals in breast milk that are known to affect child development,” said Erika Schreder, science director for the advocacy group <a href="https://toxicfreefuture.org/" target=_blank>Toxic-Free Future</a> and co-author of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0269749123010308?fr=RR-8&ref=pdf_download&rr=810878a1af66c398" target=_blank>a 2023 study</a> on brominated flame retardants (known as BFRs) in breast milk of U.S. women. “We know that breastfeeding is so important for the health of both the mom and the baby, and we need to do everything we can to make sure breast milk is safe.”

Environmental pollutants were first found <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.3109/10915818209018020" target=_blank>in breast milk</a> in a <a href="https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/19512702146" target=_blank>1951 survey</a> of 32 women. Thirty of the women had small amounts of the pesticide DDT in their breast milk. By <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2569122/" target=_blank>2008, </a>DDT and its metabolites were reported “in essentially all human milk tested worldwide,” according to a research article published that year. (<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/pdf/ddt_factsheet.pdf" target=_blank>DDT was banned in the United States in 1972</a> but is still used in some countries.)

The <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/breastfeeding-special-circumstances/environmental-exposures/other-environmental-exposures.html#:~:text=Some%20pesticides%20may%20pass%20into,exposure%20as%20much%20as%20possible." target="_blank">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> says that “we do not know what level of exposure to pesticides is safe for breastfeeding” but that pesticides have been associated with a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ijc.27459" target="_blank">variety of diseases</a> in humans, such as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969720319252" target="_blank">cancer</a>, neurotoxicity and genotoxicity risks, and effects on the endocrine, reproductive and immune systems.

As for BFRs, which are used in such items as furniture, children’s products, vehicles and electronics, researchers <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0269749123010308" target=_blank>began to find </a>these chemicals in breast milk <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0140673678927587" target=_blank>in the 1970s</a>. A <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0045653599003604" target=_blank>1999 study</a> reported that one of the most commonly used BFRs increased <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10580757/" target=_blank>more than 5,000</a> percent in the milk of Swedish mothers between 1972 and 1997. BFRs have been found in breast milk in <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24879366/" target=_blank>other</a> studies based in other countries as well.

Schreder said these findings (as well as the fact that BFRs have been found <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5890081/#bib321" target=_blank>in placentas</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5890081/#bib322" target=_blank>fetal blood</a>) are not surprising given that these chemicals continue to be used in household products and can be easily transferred to our bodies.

“Incidental dust ingestion is the biggest route of exposure,” Schreder said, noting that “when BFRs are used in electronics like TVs, they migrate out of the plastic in the product” and “get into the dust that accumulates on it.”

Concerns about the impact of flame retardant chemicals on humans and the environment have led some chemical manufacturers to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0160412008000810" target=_blank>voluntarily stop</a> their production, while some states and several European countries have <a href="https://ilsr.org/rule/chemical-regulations/2425-2/#:~:text=According%20to%20Environment%20California%2C%20since,passed%20a%20ban%20in%202002." target=_blank>banned some formulations</a> altogether.

As for microplastics, a small <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/14/13/2700" target=_blank>2022 study</a> found <a href="https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/microplastics/" target=_blank>tiny plastic particles</a>, less than five millimeters in diameter, in 75 percent of 34 breast milk samples studied. (Previous studies found microplastics in <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33395930/" target=_blank>placentas</a>, <a href="https://www.acs.org/pressroom/presspacs/2023/august/microplastics-found-in-human-heart-tissues-before-and-after-surgical-procedures.html#:~:text=A%20pilot%20study%20found%20microplastics,people%20who%20underwent%20cardiac%20surgery.&text=Everywhere%20scientists%20look%20for%20microplastics,parts%20of%20the%20human%20body." target=_blank>heart tissue</a> and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35367073/" target=_blank>blood</a>.)

Antonio Ragusa, an obstetrician and lead researcher of the 2022 study, said that, for babies, the danger of microplastics lies less with the tiny plastic particles themselves and more with the chemicals used to create the plastic, including some that are known <a href="https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/endocrine/index.cfm" target=_blank>endocrine disrupters</a>, which mimic or interfere with human hormones.

“Since hormones are so fundamental for everything from sleep to hunger to sex, chemicals that disrupt those messages can lead to a <a href="https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/endocrine/index.cfm" target=_blank>wide variety of issues</a> – including fetal development, neurological disorders and even fat storage, leading to obesity,” Ragusa said.

<a href="https://www.who.int/about/people/biography/laurence-grummer-strawn" target=_blank>Laurence Grummer-Strawn</a>, unit head of food and nutrition action in health systems at the World Health Organization and a specialist on infant and child nutrition, said that despite these concerning findings, no one who is breastfeeding, or thinking of doing it, should conclude that it’s unhealthy for their child. 

“After considerable analysis, the answer is almost always that in spite of the existence of trace elements appearing in the milk, breastfeeding should still be recommended over formula feeding,” he said.

“One reason for this is that the levels in the breast milk are still below what would be considered ‘safe’ levels,” he added. “Second, toxins that are ubiquitous in the environment may be found in infant formula or other baby foods as well as in breast milk. Third, the epidemiologic literature that compares breastfeeding and formula feeding have been done in populations that have been exposed to these toxins and so any ‘dampening’ of the benefits of breastfeeding are already accounted for, and still, breastfeeding is found to be superior.”

<a href="https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/centers/schiller-institute/sites/global-public-health.html" target=_blank>Philip J. Landrigan,</a> a pediatrician and director of the Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good at Boston College, agreed that “for the general American population, the balance of evidence is breastfeeding is better than bottle-feeding or any other substitute” — provided a mother can breastfeed and wants to do it.

He noted that there are a few instances in which pediatricians advise moms not to nurse their babies “because the levels of chemicals are so high,” like for those who live near industrial factories and some native populations in the north of Canada. “Concentrations of some of the chemicals, like PCBs [chemicals used in industrial production that were banned internationally in 2001], are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6096556/" target=_blank>astoundingly high there in the region near the North Pole</a>,” where they were blown or carried by the ocean.

In addition, Landrigan said that there are ways people can cut down on their families’ exposure to environmental contaminants like pesticides.

Landrigan said he advises families to opt for organic foods whenever possible because “<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7019963/#:~:text=Organic%20foods%20have%20been%20shown,residues%20%5B10%2C17%5D." target=_blank>studies </a>have shown that people who eat a mainly organic diet have far<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7019963/#:~:text=Organic%20foods%20have%20been%20shown,residues%20%5B10%2C17%5D." target=_blank> fewer toxic chemicals in their body</a> than people who eat a so-called conventional diet.”

He also suggests limiting or eliminating the use of pesticides around the house. “If you’ve got bugs around the apartment or the house, deal with them the old-fashioned way,” he said, “which is keeping things clean, picking up food residue, don’t leave the bugs any free food and water.”

<a href="https://www.sherrimason.com/" target=_blank>Sherri A. Mason,</a> a microplastics expert and director of sustainability at Penn State Behrend in Erie, Pa., said breastfeeding parents who are concerned about their babies’ microplastics exposure in particular should consider providing breast milk directly from the breast and not from a bottle.

<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0043135423006796" target=_blank>Pumping milk, freezing it in plastic</a> and then heating it up increases the shedding of microplastic particles. Likewise, heating plastic <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.est.3c01942" target=_blank>in a microwave</a> causes “the thousands of chemicals that are used in the plastic to move,” which means they will migrate out of the plastic and into the liquid or food, Mason added.

Mason said nursing parents may want to avoid plastic water bottles themselves; <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6141690/" target=_blank>her 2018 research</a> showed that “bottles shed particles of plastic into the water, making the plastic content in the bottled liquid hundreds of times greater than simple tap water.” It’s one way they can potentially reduce the plastics in their body, and their breast milk.

Schreder recommends regular vacuuming, wet dusting, wet mopping and frequent hand washing to get rid of BFRs that collect over time in dust.

So is breast milk best? The WHO, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force all recommend breastfeeding for those who can. That, plus the experts’ advice, convinced me to stay the course on breastfeeding.

However, the experts acknowledged the breast-bottle calculus could change in the future given the <a href="https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/chemicals-waste/what-we-do/emerging-issues/chemicals-plastics" target="_blank">continuing and growing use of chemicals and plastics</a> in the environment.

Sign up for the Well+Being newsletter, your source of expert advice and simple tips to help you live well every day

Jillian Pretzel

the-washington-post

Mother breastfeeding on the couch

Contributor

Food

Fitness

Mind

Body

Life

Well+Being

washpost

Well+Being from The Washington Post covers healthy living, including nutrition, fitness, mental health, relationships, chronic illness and disability.

prism://prism.query/site,/health&limit=20

Health

The Washington Post health section provides coverage and analysis of health, healthcare, nutrition and fitness news.