Our Fat Human Babies Must be Fed a Quality Diet
The science is very clear - to build a strong nation we have to feed our children well. The South African Dietary Guidelines for Weaning are a fabulous resource, but they admit that many families cannot afford the best diet, so the guidelines cannot be followed. The solution is to for government to make better quality food available to families with young children. We shouldn't accept poor diet as normal in our society.
The South African Dietary Guidelines for Weaning recommend that children are fed chicken, fish, meat, dairy foods and eggs every day, so children will grow taller. They will also develop larger brains. Unfortunately, chicken, fish, meat, dairy foods and eggs are expensive. In South Africa their daily inclusion in the diet of infants is a challenge.
Lessons from Modern Hunter Gatherers
A paper from 1962, about the Hadza Tribe for Northern Tanzania is interesting. They wean their children onto Zebra fat and bone marrow, both raw and cooked. Breast feeding is prolonged. As children develop teeth, mothers pre-chew meat for the children to gnaw on.
Weaning in Mammals
Carnivores have the advantage in terms of reproductive capacity to wean earlier, and to have shorter inter-birth periods. That's possible because carnivores eat a better quality diet. Suckling can stop when the brain is fully developed.
In humans, the rapid growth of the brain continues for a long time, so while it's possible to wean children at six months or younger that's not advisable. In fact continuing to breast feed until the child is 24 months of older is to be encouraged.
Before 1853 children were weaned onto whatever food was available. Since food supply for adults was uncertain, the ability of the mother to supply some milk was important. In 1862 the first commercial baby foods were marketed. After that the manufacturers of those foods encouraged their use at younger and younger ages. In industrial towns this had numerous advantages for women, but severe disadvantages for the children.
Mild Ketosis in the Fetus and Young Children
Both glucose and ketones from the mother can cross the placenta, but insulin from the mother cannot. If the mother is producing excess glucose, (mother may be diabetic) the baby has to protect itself by producing it's own insulin.
At the beginning of this video the study under discussion was looking for cancer forming (teratogenesis) problems in exposing rat fetus's to different concentrations of glucose or ketones. The study shows that both excessive glucose and excessive ketones can produce teratogenesis, but only in extreme cases. Normally the fetus is very well protected, the availability of nutriment is controlled, and there is no possibility that the mild ketosis, that is normal for a fetus, would cause any problem. In this case ketones are likely to be 0.5mmol/l to 1mmol/l. Something extraordinary might produce 2mmol/l. In this study damage began to occur at 8mmol/l.
With Glucose, a normal level is 1.2 mg/ml, with a diabetic mother this might be a little higher, but damage begins at 9 mg/ml, which is far out of range.
Exclusively breast fed babies will be in mild ketosis. Ketones will be 0.5mmol/l to 1mmol/l. This is ideal for the best rate of brain growth. Feeding infant formula is likely to stop ketosis, and is not recommended. In the same way feeding the weaning child on carbohydrates, or adding sugar to the diet. will kill ketosis. The later this happens the better.
When we look at blood profiles for people using their glucose metabolism, glucose is normal at 5mg/ml, and ketones hardly exist at levels like 0.2 mmol/l. Babies have much higher ketone production, usually between 0.5mmol/l and 2mmol/l, occasionally a little higher. They are in mild ketosis, but this is entirely under control. Breast fed babies have slightly higher ketone levels.
Low Insulin in the Infant's First Week
This chart shows the level of both glucose and ketones in the blood during the first week after birth. In the first few hours things are a little unstable. Then glucose levels quickly settle at a level just below 5mg/ml. That means there is no demand for extra insulin, so insulin levels are low. That enables fat burning, the fat from mothers milk being the fuel. Hence the fat is used to produce ketones, at good levels above 0.5mmol/l up to about 2mmol/l, these ketones doing two important tasks, giving the brain energy and providing building blocks for making cholesterol, and building the physical brain.
Nutritional Ketosis in Infants
This graph shows ketones on the vertical axis and glucose on the horizontal axis. Note that the breast fed babies have slightly higher ketone levels and slightly lower glucose levels. Since this "natural environment" in mild ketosis is desirable for the best development of the child's brain, we should think carefully about what foods we give the child if breast feeding is reduced or stopped. We need to keep the child in ketosis for as long as possible. Feeding the child carbohydrates, or worse sugar, of excess fruit is likely to switch the child's metabolism from lipid burning to glucose burning. That's not ideal.
