The Possible Impact of Electromagnetic Fields on Low Milk Supply

Are you aware that there may be a connection between a certain kind of electromagnetic field (EMF) and low milk production?

Look at this: a study based on 12 dairy farms in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota reveals that high-tech milk pumps that emit "dirty electricity" even at minuscule levels, cause cows' milk production to decrease--so much so that farmers notice and complain.

But even sources of EMFs that are located farther from the cows can have an impact on their milk production. In this review, the "dirty electricity" given off by a cell phone tower is directed into the earth. From there, it's harmonics are carried along by underground pipes to surrounding farms, schools, etc., affecting the health, behavior and milk production of cows. Once an appropriate shielding is put in place, however, the cows' health improves and their production recovers.

It is now well-known among lactation consultants, from sharing and comparing their observations, that cases of low milk supply are on the rise. Could it be possible that some unexplained cases, including those that do not respond to herbal galactagogues, domperidone, pumping, and other interventions, might improve if the mother removes or reduces the EMFs in her home? 

Well, it's certainly worth a try. Reducing these fields can only improve the quality of her family's health.

While the influence of EMFs on the health and development of children has been much studied and documented, as you can read for instance in this article from the International Herald Tribune, its effect on women's hormones and upon our ability to produce milk is still an unknown. 

But wouldn't it be a great and wild discovery if mothers create an EMF-free or greatly reduced zone in their home where they sleep and breastfeed, and their supplies rebound? For a complete list of steps to take to reduce EMFs in the home, see http://www.electricalpollution.com/solutions.html

Here's a definition from the same IHT article: "Dirty electricity: is unusable electromagnetic energy that is created by many electrical devices – caused by interruptions and fluctuations in the flow of normal power traveling through wires and electrical systems and appliances at home and at work. These interruptions result in voltage spikes or surges which combine to form a complex and potentially harmful electromagnetic field."

What kinds of machines and devices create such spikes and surges? 

Well, any that have a "variable flow" component, that is, a variable frequency drive (VFD) or  variable speed drive (VSD) or controller. These components are used instead of old-fashioned mechanical motor switches, and are found in computers, laptops, iPads and similar devices, but also in newer home "smart" machines such as heaters and air-conditioners, smart meters, water pumps, solar and wind energy generators... Holy Cow, who knew?

To simplify the picture for those who, like me, don't understand much of anything about electricity, just think, "erratic interruption." Anything that interrupts the nicely fluent, rhythmically pulsating electric current that flows into our homes is a potential problem. 

Here's a big one: the common light dimmer causes a massive increase in the dirty electricity field in your home.

Do you dim the light to check in on your baby? 

Do not use light dimmers! Seriously. We used one of those devices to measure EMFs in our home and discovered that any time a light was dimmed, the EMF in that room, but also all along and within the walls in surrounding rooms and the corridor, basically, wherever electric lines were laid--would resonate with an unbelievable increase in EMF. The measurement went from barely detectable to HOT! Since that day, no lights are dimmed in our house.

We also discovered that our laptops emit powerful radiation when they are plugged in to the wall, but not when they are running on their own batteries. There is something about the back up of electric flow when the computer does its interrupting thing with its variable drive. It's not the interruption alone--it's the way it backs up and creates an erratic rhythm--the surges and spikes--in the flow of electricity along the lines leading to and from the interruptor.

(An old-fashioned am transistor radio set to static will resonate with EMFs and give you a good idea about hot spots in your home.)

Another source of fairly strong EMF in the bedroom would be any multiple outlet power boards/surge protectors. These should be turned off at night, or moved far from the bed where you sleep.

Wireless phones, cell phones and smart phones do radiate frequently, sometimes constantly, and should be turned off or placed outside of sleeping areas.  

Basically, if it is "smart" it is potentially dangerous--especially for infants and children, whose tissues, muscles, organs, nervous system and brain are developing, and who depend upon a steady and clean "environment" not only of nurturing and love, but also of invisible energy fields. But the danger is very real for all of us, regardless of age, because it is believed that damage from EMFs can occur incrementally, bit by bit. We might not notice the results, our lack of energy, our lack of focus, or insomnia, until many years pass and the damage (asthma, cancer, Alzheimer's, chronic fatigue) is beyond repair.

Reducing your exposure to "dirty electricity" may possibly be the most crucial thing you can do to improve the quality of your family's health. 

Below are two documentaries on this topic. Please take some time to review them. Gather up your partner and your children, and discuss possible lifestyle changes with the whole family.

In this first documentary, you can learn many mysterious and marvelous things about energy frequencies and their impact on health.

In this second documentary, Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt talks about his decades of research with people with all kinds of illnesses and syndromes that were rare or virtually unknown 40 years ago. He is an expert in the treatment of autism, Lyme disease, and other unfortunately-no-longer-so-rare conditions. He also presents some suggestions to reduce the fields.

Please comment here and share your experiences with electromagnetic fields and your health. Thank you for reading! 


And please like my Facebook Mother Food Page, and stay in touch. More articles are in the works!

Beer as a Galactagogue – A Brief History

 

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Starting in Sumer

The ancient civilizations of Sumer and Egypt discovered the secrets of malting and brewing over three thousand years ago, using the barley grain. Barley is thought to be the first grain ever cultivated by humans, about 10,000 BCE. It contains a certain polysaccharide that increases the milk-production hormone prolactin, and barley is used around the world in many different forms as a milk-supply boosting galactagogue.

According to pictorial hieroglyphs, women and slaves were involved in the labor of large scale beer production in Egypt. Later, in Greek and Roman times, barley was just one of many ingredients that might be freely combined in a variety of alcoholic recipes. When these ingredients included lactogenic herbs and fruit, the effect was doubtless noticed by breastfeeding women. The Greek doctor Dioscorides (1st century C.E.) gives us an alcoholic beverage to increase milk supply. It was made using dried black figs, freshly pressed grapes, fennel and thyme--all of which are known lactogenic ingredients. The Greek surgeon Antyllus (2nd century CE), mentions a fermented grain beverage that was combined with the crushed unripe seeds of the sesame plant and crushed palm dates--another potential galactagogue. In all likelihood, these were just two of many beverages that were enjoyed by breastfeeding women across the ancient world.

Moving on to Europe

During the Dark Ages, when the skills and knowledge of the ancient world were largely forgotten (suppressed), the art of brewing was kept alive in monasteries across Europe. Eventually, however, with the growth of farmsteads, brewing techniques again passed into the hands of women as domestic work. Each thriving family farm brewed its own beer, and the term “Brewster”  referred to a woman who brews in her home.

Brewsters used barley and other grains with a range of herbs added in for their taste and medicinal properties. The preferred herbs had a bitter taste to balance the sweetness of the grain, were antiseptic to keep the drink free of pathogens, and were anti-parasitic (for instance, they killed intestinal worms). Lactogenic herbs such as pepper, cinnamon, coriander, caraway and anise were also used in brewing. They might have been added in when the Brewster was breastfeeding. Mind-altering, narcotic and sexualizing herbs might also be used in brewing. Such drinks were later ascribed to the practice of witchcraft and were forbidden.

Hops flowers, a bitter, relaxing and slightly narcotic herb, and an herb which reduces sexual drive and potency, eventually became standard for brewing. Hops is an estrogenic galactagogue with a strong reputation for the milk-ejection reflex. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), an influential nun, author, herbalist, songwriter and philosopher of her day, is said to have strongly advocated for hops as the standard herb used in beer. My guess is that Hildegard knew what she was doing for mothers. Thank you, Hilde!

For several centuries, brewing remained domestic work. It eventually became a source of family income, with beer sold through local pubs or directly from the farm. As economies began to evolve, however, the upper classes passed laws that successfully suppressed these small family businesses. Brewing recipes were strictly regulated, and fees and fines imposed. Brewing became impractical for small domestic breweries and pub houses, so the way was free for large industrial breweries that have prospered to the present day.

The predatory nature of industry, and the collusion of industry with the wealthy class and government is illustrated in this example with beer. Small breweries today are attempting to break free from the stranglehold of big industry. If you enjoy beer, I urge you to support them!

Guinness, one of the big breweries, specializes in stout that is made with barley malt and barley grain. The added grain makes the stout "silkier" and "thicker" due to  beta-glucan, the polysaccharide (long-chained sugar molecule) in barley that increases prolactin. It makes  sense that Guinness would be the commercial beer most frequently recommended today by breastfeeding mothers, as it is one of the very few to still contain beta-glucan. (See my article Malt as a Galactagogue for more information on beta-glucan in brewing.)

Beginning in the early 1500s, German law limited the ingredients to be used in beer to barley, hops, yeast, and water. Reasons for this  went beyond taste preferences. By prohibiting the use of wheat, more wheat was available to bake bread. But limiting the ingredients also forced various other types of beer into obscurity. It effectively got rid of competition as the law formed a protective barrier to the importation of foreign beer. These restrictions would come to influence the international production of beer, as brewers in neighboring countries conformed to the restrictions of the large German market so that they could compete there.

Today, almost all major brewers incorporate "extra" ingredients such as corn, rice, wheat or oats into their brews. Luckily for breastfeeding mothers, the “pure” ingredients defined by German-type beer, barley, malt, hops and yeast, are intensely lactogenic. This is why classical European beer is recognized by breastfeeding mothers as the best beer-type galactagogue.

Once upon a Beer

Alcohol is anti-galactagogue. Studies on animals and humans show that alcohol impairs the milk ejection reflex, slows the flow of milk, and leads to a reduced intake of milk by the baby during approximately four hours after drinking. Because of the back-up of milk, the breast feels fuller. Because the flow of the milk is slower, it requires more time for a baby to remove milk from the breast. Because the breast feels fuller and the baby drinks longer, researchers say the mother believes that her baby is drinking more milk.

However, in traditional beer, particularly the "small beer" and "second brew" (see next section), lower levels of alcohol are present in the beer. In this case, the lactogenic ingredients used in brewing may prevail over the effect of the alcohol. Other factors that can override the anti-galactagogue effect would be whether the mother drinks the beer on an empty stomach, and how soon after drinking she breastfeeds again. It is likely that if several hours pass between drinking and nursing, the effects of the alcohol will have worn off, and the effects of the lactogenic ingredients will still be potent.

This seems to be the case, according to reports by exclusively pumping mothers. Pumping mothers will not be fooled by how their breasts feel or how long their baby drinks. They report that by drinking one glass of beer in the evening (beer rich in barley or hops, such as Guinness Dark Stout or non-alcoholic, malty St. Pauli Girl), they pump measurably  more milk the next day. Some also say that they have more and stronger let-downs at the pump that same evening.

Small Beer - Big Effect

Historically, the beer used by mothers to increase their supply was nutritionally rich and low in alcohol. In

home brewing, the so-called “mashing” (or boiling of malt, grains and herbs) was performed twice with the same grains and herbs. Whereas the first mashing returns a strong alcoholic beer, the second mashing returns a low-alcoholic beverage called “small beer” that was loosely filtered—a thin, porridge-like fluid that could practically be eaten!

She who buys her beer at the store is happier and healthier than the mom who makes beer herself at home. Thus do industries undermine women's competence and self-confidence.

Up until 150 years ago, “small beer” was viewed as a healthy, nutritious beverage that could be given to children, servants, to men performing hard labor, and to pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. In Germany, the second mash was called “Nährbier,” meaning, literally, “nutritional beer.” Into the mid-20th century, Nährbier was produced in Germany commercially and  recommended to breastfeeding mothers as nutrition and to enhance their milk production.
This then is the typical historic beer used by breastfeeding mothers: stronger in nutrition, weaker in alcohol. It is quite a different brew from any commercial beer today.

It is important to keep this in mind. Our typical, light-colored alcoholic beers do not contain enough lactogenic ingredients to counteract the anti-galactagogue effects of alcohol. These beers can lead to a decrease in supply! Non-alcoholic beer, however, especially if rich in barley or hops, can be a good galactagogue.

Our Grandmothers were Right!

Clearly, our foremothers knew what was happening in their bodies. They would use either a classic stout-type beer, rich in beta-glucan, to support their milk supply, or they would drink "small beer."

The British OBGYN, Charles Routh, writes about beer in his book Infant Feeding and Its Influence on Life (1869). He writes that too much beer and not enough food will reduce supply and risk alcoholism. For these mothers, he suggests one oz of beer taken together with one oz cream (delicious!) every few hours--I believe he was weaning these mothers off of their beer habit. He also recommends certain stouts/ales used by successful wet-nurses.

Malt Beer

Malt and Hops - the ingredients of beer - long understood to be a support for mothers after birth.

During the 19th century, "temperance movements" formed in many countries around the world to discourage the use of alcohol. In response, beer industries produced  non-alcoholic beer-like beverages using hops, yeast and malt. In the US, malt beer was called Near-Beer; in Germany, Malz-Bier, and in France, bière de nourrice, or "wet-nurse beer." All were recommended as nourishing beverages for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, and were reported to support milk supply.

Malt is derived from barley grain, and both as gooey malt syrup and as a powder is a widely used historic galactagogue.

Today, many new brands of malt-beer are available commercially. The best known is Guinness Malta. Malt beers are very popular in South America, Africa and Israel. Many mothers swear that Malta helps support their supply.

For more information about malt-beer and malt as a galactagogue, about how malt has changed and how this change may affect the lactogenicity of beer, see my article Malt as a Galactagogue - A Brief Overview.

Do I recommend beer as a galactagogue?

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This article represents my original research, and is an excerpt from a book in progress, The History of Low Milk Supply and the Lactogenic Diet. All rights reserved. Do not re-print or use without my permission ©hilaryjacobson 10.2011-2016

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New Risk for Low Milk Supply: Alcoholism in the Family, von Bunge, Mennella, MOBI

I would like to introduce you all to my new hero from the 19th century, a brilliant biochemist who laid the foundation of nutritional science and whose work is still relevant today, Gustav von Bunge (1844-1920). Please enjoy this biography, and be amazed that one man can achieve so much that is so meaningful!  


In 1907, towards the end of his life, von Bunge published a remarkable study (thankfully I am fluent in German) that links alcoholism in the family to low milk supply. In this study, von Bunge shows  results from a survey of more than 1600 women that spanned several European countries. Remarkably, he relates that in households where the father is an extremely heavy drinker, huge percentages of  daughters experience true low milk supply (40% compared to 3% in families with no heavy drinking). He also shows that low milk supply can be inherited, and that the granddaughters of heavy drinkers also tend to have problems.


In the decades that followed, von Bunge's correlation between alcoholism and low milk supply was not taken very seriously, and low milk supply was said, if anything, to be the result of the poverty and poor nutrition. Furthermore, von Bunge included in "low milk supply" not only those mothers who consistently had low secretion, but also those who did not breastfeed for more than nine months. The assumption was that if a mother weaned so "early" she must be struggling to make breastfeeding work. 

However, I recently felt compelled to take von Bunge's study more seriously when I saw a new study by Julie Mennella and Marta Yanina Pepino titled "Breastfeeding and Prolactin Levels in Lactating Women with a Family History of Alcoholism."


Briefly, Mennella and Yanina show that women with a family history of alcoholism have a "blunted"  prolactin response to the removal of milk from the breasts. Familial alcoholism is identified as a risk factor for breastfeeding problems. The mothers in this study, for instance, breastfeed more frequently than the "controls." This is probably an instinctive reaction: if you have less milk production per feed, more frequent feeding can make up the difference.
 
It took me a couple weeks, but I finally got up my courage to ask at our MOBI group if our mothers with low supply have alcoholism in their families. Unbelievably, nearly all of our mothers raised their hands. We conducted a spontaneous survey and found that the most common denominator was the maternal grandfather.


Is alcoholism in the family a risk factor for low milk supply? It appears to be so. More research is of course needed.


The good news is that this is the best of times to be aware of risk factors, because there is so much information and help available compared to only a decade ago. Having risk factors does not spell out failure. It does however signal the need to be prepared so that you can meet and overcome the problems when they arrise. See "Making More Milk," by Marasco and West, and my own book, "Mother Food," for starters.

Beer, Anemia, Lactation, Copper - and of course, Galactagogue

Last week, a mother wrote to say that she drinks a pint of Guinness beer every day to help with her anemia. Never having heard of beer as a remedy for anemia, I did a little internet searching.

An article called "Beer: it does a body good" on Prospectus News relates how Guinness beer has been wrongly promoted as a good source of iron in Ireland for pregnant women. Hm. Talk about a country standing behind its national product, regardless of medical truth or consequences for their vulnerable population. Read more.

Studies from Africa reporting on the medical condition called iron overload, point to people's high consumption of home-made beer. Read more. It turns out that materials used in brewing increases the iron content of some beer, but also that certain people of African descent carry a gene that predisposes them to iron overload. Read more.

So is Guinness different from other beers? Yes, not because it contains more iron than other beers, but because it contains more beta-glucan, an immune-boosting and lactation-boosting sugar that unfortunately is reduced to a minimum in normal commercial beer brewing. Beta-glucan is the secret ingredient that makes Guinness and similar dark stout beers special for breastfeeding mothers. To learn more, read The Best Beer for Breastfeeding and other related posts about beer and malt as a galactagogue on this site.

So what was going on with the mother who drinks Guinness for her anemia? 

That search lead me to a website describing something called "copper-deficiency anemia." Beer is actually a good source of copper. Read more.

I contacted the mother and she reports that she does indeed fit the description of copper-deficiency. She also finds that while Guinness makes her feel less fatigued by providing copper, it also supports her very fragile milk supply.

Could copper be crucially involved in milk supply? 

Something new to investigate... and after a quick search, there seems to be something to it. This study on rodents concludes: "lactation markedly enhances the avidity of the mammary gland for copper, diverting most of it from liver and kidney to that tissue" Here is the entire study. Any thoughts? I am reminded of all the copper-rich seafood traditionally recommended to increase lactation: oysters, octopus, eel, fish.

Good news: blackstrap molasses is an easily available and good source of both iron and copper, and this may be behind its use as a galactagogue -- two tablespoons a day. 1 Tablespoon mixed into very hot water with a bit of milk tastes a bit like coffee.

Low Milk Supply, Anemia, and Galactagogues

Anemia can be an important co-factor in low milk supply and depression after birth. In this article published by MOBI Motherhood Intl, Cheryl Renfree Scott, PhD, RN, IBCLC, reviews studies that highlight the relationship between iron deficiency, low milk supply, short duration of breastfeeding, and fatigue and depression in the new mother. Specific iron supplements and dietary measures can help prevent and abate anemia. read more

I will talk about lactogenic foods and herbs used to provide iron in my next post.