WEBVTT - Mother's Milk 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:13.680 Works dot com. Hey, you're welcome to Stuff to Blow 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:16.280 your mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:18.520 You know, milk is one of those things that we 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:22.439 really take for granted. I mean, it's, uh, it's a 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:24.720 certain amount of This is kind of an outragious overstatement 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:29.360 the obvious, but milk is this amazing, nutritious beverage that 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:35.559 is produced by a mammal so that a larval mammal 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:40.040 can can grow and and develop and uh and actually 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:43.199 have a shot at life. Yeah. Yeah, when you think 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:44.960 of milk, you should probably just think about the milk 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:49.040 campaign got milk? Yeah, um, But if you think about 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:51.080 it in a different way, it's it's actually in the 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:54.560 news quite a bit in the form of breastfeeding, and 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:57.080 I just wanted to mention that it's it is interesting 0:00:57.120 --> 0:01:00.080 when you think about breastfeeding is becoming this polar de 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:03.840 sized action because it is natural to mammals to do this, 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:10.240 and yet legislation exists so that people, humans can actually 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:14.200 breastfeed in public. Believe it or not. Um, the the 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:19.399 the human human breast exists um solely to to to 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:23.080 nurture another creature. Despite all the other things you see 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:25.959 breast doing UM in our media and in our art 0:01:26.080 --> 0:01:28.840 and our world at large. I mean, this is the 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:32.360 one thing that they're here for, and it's the one 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:35.160 thing that some people get up tied about and say, ah, 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:37.520 that needs to be that needs to happen behind closed doors. 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:40.039 So pull that out on the train. Yeah, I know, 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:43.319 it's crazy. Here in the United States, forty five states, 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:46.360 the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands have laws 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:48.880 that specifically allow women to breastfeed in any public or 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:53.160 private location. Twenty eight states, as well as the District 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:56.600 of Columbia and the Virgin Islands again exempt breastfeeding from 0:01:56.600 --> 0:02:01.640 public indecency laws. Uh No. In twenty four states, including 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:04.680 d C in Puerto Rico, have laws related to breastfeeding 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:07.040 in the workplace. That the fact that we even have 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:09.360 to have laws in the workplace to make sure that 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:13.160 breastfeeding can occurs is just kind of odd. Yeah, because well, 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:17.840 we're not talking about public urination here or or or defecation. 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:20.680 I mean, this is this and this is a This 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:23.919 is not a waste producing act. This is a UM, 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:30.400 a life giving act. That's part of the natural mammal process. Yeah, 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:33.600 and as we discovered, it's not just mother's milk. Um, 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:37.320 it's it's also someone else's milk. But I'm not gonna 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:41.600 spoil that right now. I'm not going to spoil that plot. Um. 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:46.160 But let's talk about what exactly milk is. Yeah, and 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:49.280 this is this also sounds kind of like an outrageous question. 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:51.520 What is milk? What's that stuff that comes out of 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:54.720 out of a mammal's breast. It's that stuff that you 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:58.320 buy at the grocery market and the big, big containers. 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:00.760 It's that stuff and that can that I take back 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:03.080 to the kitten in the morning and occasionally accidentally drink 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:06.560 out of. Um, it's kind of chalky, you know. Yeah, 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:11.320 but but no, um, Yeah, what what is milk when 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:13.280 you when you break it down and you actually look 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:18.360 at the formula, Well, it's basically a complex emulsion of antibodies, 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:23.359 flat globules and water and a fine dispersion of suspension 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:27.640 or suspension of cassine macellis. And these are proteins that 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:33.160 supply amino acids, carbohydrates, calcium, and phosphorus. And the interesting 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:36.600 thing about this is that fat, protein, and sugar content 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:40.320 differs across the million species. Yeah, and it differs quite 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:42.800 a lot. Um For example, that the fat content of 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:46.840 milk may be as high as six and seals uh 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:51.440 and completely negligible in the early lactation stages of something 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:54.720 like a wallaby. Um. And then you get it into 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:59.320 interesting distinctions there too, because uh, some some mammal milk 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:02.240 is just straight up you know, the pretty much the 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:05.360 same formula nutritions from from the early stages of lactation 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:10.280 through the latter stages of lactation. Other animals, the chemistry 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:13.880 the milk changes a bit as they go on, fulfilling 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:18.440 fulfilling certain biological needs early on and becoming more nutritious 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:23.560 as as the uh, as the the animal progresses. Yeah. 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:27.479 And in humans, breast milk actually isn't even produced right away. Instead, 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:32.479 a substance called colostrum, sometimes called liquid gold, is produced 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:35.320 before a woman's milk comes in, and claustrum is um. 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:38.520 It's high in carbohydrates, high in protein, high in antibodies, 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:41.719 and low and fat. And it's called liquid gold because 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:44.200 there's not a whole lot of it that's produced. But 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:48.680 the stuff that is produced is really dense um. It's 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:52.280 very thick, and it's great for newborns who find it 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:55.080 difficult to digest at that point because it does have 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:58.719 that low fat content, and its role is to coat 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:02.599 the baby's digestive t with beneficial bacteria and act actually 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:05.159 is a laxative and the reason for this is that 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:09.120 it helps the baby clear any excess billy reuben from 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:12.400 its system, which if you didn't clear that would uh 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:17.000 may actually result in having a jaundice or something along 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:20.480 those lines. Then that's like baby poo. Well, the term 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:25.080 for baby pooh actually is maconium. But it's this billy 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:28.520 rub in, this excess amount that that the baby's body 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:30.640 actually wants to get rid of, and it does that 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:35.760 through excreting okay, pop, and this helps facilitate that process. 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:38.480 So it's it's it's like it's not not just milk 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:41.120 as they a product of the mother as much as 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:45.640 like it's this targeted um biological agent. It's really doing 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:48.640 certain unique things that we can continue to discuss here, 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:53.040 a certain unique things that will aid that new creature survival. 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:55.839 That's right, has a lot to do with immunity and 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:59.320 just kind of setting up a kid's system for life really, 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:05.159 So how long have we had mammalion milk? At least 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:07.920 a hundred and sixty million years? And again this seems 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:11.039 sort of like one of those things take totally for granted, like, oh, yes, 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:14.359 we've have hasn't this always been going on? Um? But 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:18.799 the Bovine Lactation Genome Consortium compared one hundred and ninety 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:22.000 seven milk and memory genes from cattle in more than 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:25.520 six thousand memory related genes with other genes in the 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:29.440 bovine KENO. And these genes were then compared with similar 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:33.240 ones from a platypus and a possum human, a dog 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:35.839 and mouse, and a rat. And they use this data 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:38.520 to figure out that the most common ancestor of the 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:42.159 animal or these animals would have lived about a hundred 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:46.760 and sixty million years ago. But mammals origins actually go 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:53.760 back to a mammal like reptile called synapsids, and that's uh, 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:56.839 that actually occurs in the fossil record about three hundred 0:06:56.880 --> 0:07:00.800 and ten million years ago, so one d and sixty 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:04.920 million at least. Okay, And from there we see like 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:08.839 again just a number of different varieties of milk. The 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:12.400 nutritional specifics of that milk is going to vary from 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:15.560 species to species. Uh, some of it is just really incredible. 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:18.640 Like I was reading about the blue whale. Um, the 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:23.640 blue a newborn blue whale feeding just on milk will 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:27.400 gain two hundred pounds a day, which is which is incredible. 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:29.080 I mean that, and that just shows you the I 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:31.600 mean the importance of the milk. It's like it's it's 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:36.240 taking this fledgling creature, this um that that by all 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:38.360 rights and purposes, is not long for this world. It 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:41.400 makes all the difference by just pumping just vast amounts 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:44.920 of food and nutrient into the body. Yeah. One of 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:47.800 the things that the researchers found that was similar across 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:50.960 all species is that the milk proteins related to secreting 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:54.520 the milk remain the same, so that across the species, 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:58.640 same thing the place where they diverged with the nutritional 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:02.600 and immunological components of the milk. And of course, if 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:05.320 you've got a baby wheel that's gaining two hundred pounds 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:07.440 a day, it's going to be stocked in a different 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:11.480 way with nutrients. Um. So let's give some more examples 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:14.680 of other species in what they're up to with with 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:18.120 milk and breastfeeding. All right, well this this is a 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:21.640 not particularly scientific but I found it interesting in the 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:26.280 rest on the less, according to a Telegraph article, Um, 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:31.640 the milk of the giraffe is technically kosher. Um. They're 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:36.840 they're the Safari Park Zoo and Rama Ghan it's Israel's 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:40.280 largest zoo. They had a team that took a root 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:42.760 teen samples of milk and found that it clotted in 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:46.160 the way required by Jewish law for kosher certification. Uh. 0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:49.520 They submitted more milk for verification. So the rabbi's waged 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:52.680 in and they found that giraffe milk, but also giraffe 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:56.760 meat was acceptable for observant juice. So there you go, 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:00.640 giraffe on the menu. Um. Okay, Well, let's look at 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:04.680 our friends, chimpanzees and binobos. They actually wean they're young 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:07.960 at the age of four or five, whereas guerrillas do 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:12.439 about a year earlier. Um. And they you know, anthropologists 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:14.880 aren't quite sure why that's the case, like why there 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:19.040 would be a differentiation there. Um. You know, you I 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:21.120 guess you could guess that it had to do with 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:23.600 maybe the society or the community that these animals are 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:26.439 living in and um, some of the different things that 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:29.480 they're up against. UM. But one of the things I 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:32.839 wanted to point out is that anthropologists have studied the 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:37.600 weaning customs of hunter gatherer societies, societies, human societies, and 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:41.960 they found a significant variation within them. They actually talked 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:46.280 about the Kung sand of the Kahlari Desert and they 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:49.160 stopped breastfeeding at around four or five years of age. 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:54.280 The Hodsa of Tanzania ween about six months earlier than 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:57.920 the Kung, and the Auchi people of Paraguay queen earlier 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:01.840 at about three years of a. So again there's there's 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:04.959 this idea of that human culture and lifestyles influenced that. 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:08.240 Now here in the West, UM. And this is from 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:12.839 the Christian Science Monitor, only an estimated thirty five percent 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:16.920 of American moms are exclusively breastfeeding their children at three months, 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:21.800 even though the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests about six 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:26.760 months to be the cutoff date. And then less than 0:10:26.800 --> 0:10:30.120 half of moms nurse at all at six months, So 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:32.640 you can see there's obviously a huge decline in the 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:36.960 West when it comes to breastfeeding and UM and weaning UM. 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:40.400 And then of course the numbers of breastfeeding moms dropped 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:43.240 significantly as the child get older. As the child gets older, 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:45.000 And this has been in the media a lot because 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:47.840 Time recently ran this cover. I don't know if you 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:50.040 remember this, but it was I think it was maybe 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:54.520 a model who was still breastfeeding her child at the 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:56.839 age of three. Yeah. Yeah, this was the cover that 0:10:56.920 --> 0:10:58.400 was kind of controversial, and it was one of those 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:01.320 situations where the the internet. I don't know that I 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:05.479 ever saw the original cover. I just saw various um 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:08.800 takes on it and where they would like replace the 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:12.080 mom with I don't know, like the creature from Alien 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:14.640 or something, you know, and I forget, we forget what 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:17.520 all the other versions were. But but but yeah, it's 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:20.640 caused quite sure it did, and well because it's it's 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:25.480 uncommon um again in you know, the West, particularly United States, 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:28.360 for a mother to breastfeed at that age. But also 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:31.120 there was you know, a firestorm of controversy because people 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:32.840 thought that the way that it was portrayed it was 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:37.920 sexualizing the act. And again going back to breastfeeding and laws, 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:40.280 at least here in the United States, it makes me 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:45.040 think about how we sometimes really trying to divorce ourselves 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:49.040 from our animal selves and why this topic becomes um 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:51.920 controversial in the first place. Yeah, and you you do 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:55.800 often see it and just thinking of a various like 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:59.880 you know, the sitcom's movies, even the there's a there's 0:11:59.880 --> 0:12:02.280 a character in Game of Thrones where it's this sort 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:06.880 of crazy mom character and she's still breastfeeding her sickly 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:11.119 child at a very um in a fairly advanced age. Um, 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:13.600 and it's you know, it's it's depicted as something unnatural 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:17.080 and kind of monstrous. But but but again that's from 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:21.600 the western uh viewpoint on the topic. And and certainly, 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:24.480 like like a lot of things that end up disgusting 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:27.520 some people, it's it's the idea that anything that connects 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:30.559 us to our animal nature, be it uh, be it 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:33.800 something like like breastfeeding or something having to do with 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:39.440 our digestive properties. Um it, you know, it reminds us 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:41.520 of our bodies in a way that we don't like 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:43.880 to think about. Yeah. And but of course there are 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:46.080 a lot of proponents of breastfeeding. They're out there. They're 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:49.800 again trying to influence legislation and try to educate people 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:52.360 about the benefits of that. The problem is is that 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:54.800 not only do you have this this idea of the 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:58.240 animal self that that people sort of need to try 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:01.520 to get their heads around. Um. But you also have 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:04.680 the problem of modern society itself where it does it's 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:08.440 not really set up to support a breastfeeding woman. Yeah, 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:10.760 and I mean you end up with the situation, Yeah, 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:14.200 it's not set up to support breastfeeding women. And then 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:16.400 so and and if it is, it's something that's in 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:23.280 a closet somewhere, right, you're referring to a lot of work. Um, 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:25.320 so it remains the thing you stick away in a 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:27.480 closet or like O, I'll do that at home. And 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:30.280 and so there's no I mean, there's reduced public awareness 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:33.560 of it. So it remains kind of taboo because it's 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:36.679 not out in the open um right right. In Maternity 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:40.520 leave is pretty spotty too, because I mean it's like 0:13:40.559 --> 0:13:43.760 what six weeks fm L a Family Medical Leave Act 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:49.800 that that you're allowed to take unpaid, but not every 0:13:49.800 --> 0:13:55.080 business actually um will pay you or actually say okay, 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:58.800 take that six weeks and then take some more vacation time. UM. 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:01.080 So anyway, it's spotty cross the board, and it's not 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:03.840 really set up to do that. Um. Okay, so I 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:07.480 think that we have covered some the basics of breast 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:12.640 milk humans and and other species. Uh, so we should 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:15.280 probably take a break. When we get back, we'll talk 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:22.600 about whether or not possible from man to breash speed. Alright, 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:25.920 we're back mail like cation now. I've certainly heard of 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:31.080 cases where individuals who use antibox steroids UM can can 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:34.040 produce milk through their nipples. And in fact, that's what 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:36.720 I think of every time I see a container of 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:39.840 muscle milk in the store. I think of like a big, big, beefy, 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:43.640 bald headed like pro wrestler, just like squeezing off container 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:46.320 after container and putting directly in the fridge at the store. 0:14:46.440 --> 0:14:49.960 That's frightening. What is muscle milk? Um? It is a 0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:53.000 it is a I've never had it, but my understanding, 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:57.360 it's say, like a nutritious like bodybuilding kind of macho beverage. 0:14:57.560 --> 0:14:59.760 It's like like, hey, brow, we're gonna go out and 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:02.120 we're gonna let's list some weights and then we're gonna 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:04.160 have some muscle milk in the car, gonna dunk our 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:07.080 oreos into our muscle milk. Yeah, that's not very much. 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:08.720 It was. It's just I mean, it's one of those 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:11.120 things like it's not it's like it's a milk I product, 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:14.000 it's mussel milk. It's supposed to sound like macho and inviting, 0:15:14.000 --> 0:15:19.880 but it sounds weird and unnatural. Yeah, which maybe it is. 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:23.400 Maybe it's up um, but yes, okay, so you you 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:26.360 know of it in that instance, right, where the body 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:29.760 has been tinkered with a bit because of steroids or medication, 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:34.320 and all of a sudden a man starts producing breast milk. Yeah, 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:36.560 or just in general sort of trauma to the body. Right. 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:42.440 You had an anecdote about foreign prisoners of war, right, Yeah, 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:45.000 I don't remember that. It's World War Two. They were 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:48.960 starving and when they finally started to get some nutrition 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:53.200 sorted to eat, their body was so out of sorts 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:58.960 that all of their hormones spiked, including prolactin, which actually 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:02.680 caused them to start actating as well. And this prolactin 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:05.440 is really important and pregnant women, it begins to really 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:10.080 sort of um, get flowing through the body. And this 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:12.560 is an advance of this idea that you're going to 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:15.080 go ahead and breastfeed, and so your body starts to 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:19.080 prepare itself. But this Prolactin is produced by the pituitary gland. 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:22.720 So the pituitary gland really important obviously in producing this. 0:16:22.880 --> 0:16:25.960 And the pituitary gland can be influenced also by say 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:30.240 another medical condition like a tumor, and UH inadvertently start 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:35.320 producing prolactin. That's another way that a male could start lactating. 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:38.680 But this is really interesting to me, is this um 0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:44.320 these instances where men start lactating because of a dire need. 0:16:44.880 --> 0:16:47.160 And what I mean to say is that they're in 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:51.160 a situation where they're um, the mother of their child 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:56.320 may have passed away or be gravely ill in psychologically. 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:59.200 What happens is that this kicks up the pituitary gland 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:01.400 and to produce a the prolactin. And so there have 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:05.600 been documented cases of this. There was a a case 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:08.159 in two thousand and two of a thirty eight year 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:10.720 old managed Sri Lanka, who nursed his two daughters through 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:14.359 their infancy after his wife died during childbirth. Yeah, and 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:17.560 again it's important to stress not every male mammal had 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:20.439 even has the equipment. They lacked both the memory glands 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:23.200 and a maturity glands to to get things pumping. But 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:26.639 but male humans have those, so it's just a matter 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:30.080 of kickstarting them. Yeah. We've talked about this before about 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:32.919 how we're pretty much all stocked with the same stuff 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:36.920 when when we're first developing, and then of course horn 0:17:36.960 --> 0:17:41.560 wounds helped to define those boundaries as biological boundaries. Um, 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:44.160 because you're gonna again look at them. The male human 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:47.960 as just a necessary mutation, as the female is more 0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:51.119 or less species and male is a take on that 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:55.720 particular model to fulfill a certain evolutionary purpose. Yeah. Jack Newman, 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.600 he's a Toronto based doctor and breastfeeding expert, has said 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:00.960 that this isn't too crazy that that men would have nipples, 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:03.639 need have some breast tissue that would allow us to happen. 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:06.240 He says, up until certain age, boys and girls as 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:10.720 fetuses are indistinguishable, so women retain some remnants of the 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:14.000 vast difference, which is then which then becomes the vaginal 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:17.439 canal that sperm follows. So again we're all sort of 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:20.080 hard baked with this stuff here. And if we look 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:24.480 elsewhere in the animal kingdom, we do find at least 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:30.159 one example of a mammalian creature that has uh parental lactation. 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:34.080 That's uh, that's males that are not only producing milk, 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:38.320 but they're actually breastfeeding as part of their natural behavior. 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:41.119 And that is a particular fruit bat called the day 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:43.879 at fruit bat, which will find in Malaysia, Thailand, and 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:47.680 the Philippines and uh and it is the only known 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:51.480 occurrence of parental lactation where the males are actually producing 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:55.400 milk perhaps two. The theory is that it's to help 0:18:55.440 --> 0:19:00.119 alleviate the the lactation pressure placed on the females in 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:05.520 the fruit back community. Okay, so in certain dire um 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:08.520 circumstances as well in a different way, right, Yeah, I 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:10.840 mean it's um. I mean it would be kind of like, 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:13.600 you know, on an evolutionary basis, if it's like mom 0:19:13.600 --> 0:19:15.600 and dad, and like Mom's just super busy, Mom has 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:18.080 a job on top of looking after the kids, and 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:22.800 daddy fruit bat eventually develops the ability to nurse them 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:26.919 as well. It's like it's like Buster, not Buster Michael Keaton, 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:29.480 Was it Mr Mom? Right? Like? Imagine him as the 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:33.920 fruit bat with lacktating nipples. Wow? Yeah, I don't want to. 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:37.480 So are you saying in the future, as women continue 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:41.080 to um dominate the workforce of academia, that men might 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:47.160 start breastfeeding perhaps, I mean, I mean it's uh, it's 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:49.439 it's the it's the sort of thing that that happens. 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:51.440 So we look at the fruit bats as a potential model, 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:53.679 and you could you could see that happening over a 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:56.240 long period of time, because again, we have the equipment. 0:19:56.240 --> 0:20:00.560 It's just a matter of kickstarting that equipment. Yeah, evidence 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:07.720 of happening happening when arises. Alright, So okay, that's breastfeeding 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:12.520 within your own species. What about this idea that we 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:17.639 started not breastfeeding from other uh species, although some that 0:20:17.680 --> 0:20:21.199 does happens. And remus right to the classic image of 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:24.600 the of the two children drinking the milk of the 0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:27.520 Was it a cow or was it a sheep? I 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:30.560 always focus on the children and the outer I tend 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:32.320 not to notice what the animals, to see what the 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:34.960 utter is attached to. Um. Yeah, so when did we 0:20:34.960 --> 0:20:38.720 actually start drinking other species milk? Is the question. Years ago, 0:20:38.760 --> 0:20:41.680 we have these humans and obviously up until an age 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:44.760 of about four or five, they are drinking milk. They're 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:49.159 drinking their mother's milk. But then uh that the ability 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:54.600 to consume milk fades away. They become a lactose intolerant, okay, 0:20:54.680 --> 0:20:59.520 And because they don't have what is called lact taste, 0:20:59.520 --> 0:21:01.639 which is an design that we eventually developed. It allows 0:21:01.680 --> 0:21:07.280 us to digest the complex milk sugar lactose um. Without lactase, 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:14.199 we are lactose intolerant, and consuming milk causes diarrhea. Well, 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:17.480 and it's interesting to see that this UM, this is 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:23.280 coinciding with populations turning to agrarian societies. UM. In other words, 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:29.640 they're cattle, and the cattle are producing milk, and we'll 0:21:29.640 --> 0:21:33.640 find and they'll find themselves in situations probably where the 0:21:33.640 --> 0:21:36.480 there's there's less water available, there's less food available. So 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:38.960 what do you do. You turn to the milk. And 0:21:39.040 --> 0:21:41.480 when you turn to the milk, some people are going 0:21:41.520 --> 0:21:44.359 to be able to tolerate it more than others. And 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:47.520 the theory is then that when times get particularly dire, 0:21:48.080 --> 0:21:50.560 the people who are able to turn to animal milk 0:21:50.640 --> 0:21:54.760 for survival survive, and those who can't end up either 0:21:54.800 --> 0:21:57.480 having to starve or they're just or they're dying from 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:01.600 the intense diarrhea that results from lactose intolerant. And and 0:22:01.640 --> 0:22:04.520 again this is in Central Europe. We're not talking about 0:22:04.920 --> 0:22:07.120 other parts of the world here. Yeah, we are talking 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:12.520 about pioneer a Grarians who are based initially in Central 0:22:12.560 --> 0:22:15.960 Europe and then moving to northern Europe. So hence the 0:22:16.000 --> 0:22:18.239 pioneer part, and hence the fact that they would have 0:22:18.320 --> 0:22:20.840 crops or cattle that that weren't doing so well and 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:25.440 so they'd have to turn to the milk um for nutritions. So, 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:28.080 I mean, it's pretty crazy because it's um and you 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:31.439 think of lactose intolerant. Like, growing up, I just knew that, oh, 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:35.000 some people can't drink milk. That's kind of weird, right, um. 0:22:35.920 --> 0:22:38.399 But but but when you, you you know, you become educated 0:22:38.440 --> 0:22:42.320 on the on the topic, you realize that the reality 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:44.199 is a lot weirder. It's like, at one point in 0:22:44.240 --> 0:22:49.720 our path, um, you know, years ago, a genetic mutation 0:22:49.880 --> 0:22:52.720 allows us to drink the milk of other creatures. Again, 0:22:52.840 --> 0:22:58.160 think of milk. Is this immune system boosting, nutritious, targeted 0:22:58.640 --> 0:23:02.800 um fluid that is secreted by a specific mother for 0:23:02.880 --> 0:23:06.600 her offspring within that species, and then we we suddenly 0:23:06.800 --> 0:23:09.120 have a genetic mutation that allows us to drink from 0:23:09.119 --> 0:23:11.840 it as well too. In a way, um, like it's 0:23:11.840 --> 0:23:15.800 it's almost like this parasitic relationship that we evolve to 0:23:15.960 --> 0:23:20.080 have with our cattle. Yeah, and the evidence is there. Um. 0:23:20.880 --> 0:23:24.879 Using genetic and archaeological data, Mark Thomas and colleagues at 0:23:24.960 --> 0:23:27.600 University College in London were able to trace down the 0:23:27.680 --> 0:23:32.159 first evidence of black case um being actually used in 0:23:32.280 --> 0:23:35.879 adulthood to exactly when you see the beginning of the 0:23:35.960 --> 0:23:42.280 linear bandcarum um nick culture. Quite the word twister there, 0:23:42.920 --> 0:23:46.320 tongue twister and this is an ancient Neolithic culture. So 0:23:46.400 --> 0:23:48.359 you see that you've got some evidence there that this 0:23:48.440 --> 0:23:50.800 is happening then um and yeah, I mean when it 0:23:50.880 --> 0:23:54.679 comes the choice between life and death, your you know, 0:23:54.760 --> 0:23:57.520