Human breast milk is not just a source of nutrition for infants; it also provides immune system support, prebiotics for gut bacteria, and compensates for the urban lifestyle by helping newborns fight infections. The dense and diverse milk sugars in human milk are tailored to aid the growth of beneficial gut bacteria and aid in digestion. Moreover, the initial thick milk, colostrum, was historically misunderstood and seen as inferior, but it plays a crucial role in providing essential immune support to newborns.
In a special episode of People I (Mostly) Admire, Steve Levitt talks to Cat Bohannon about her new book Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution.
- RESOURCES:
- Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution, by Cat Bohannon (2023).
- "Genomic Inference of a Severe Human Bottleneck During the Early to Middle Pleistocene Transition," by Wangjie Hu, Ziqian Hao, Pengyuan Du, Fabio Di Vincenzo, Giorgio Manzi, Jialong Cui, Yun-Xin Fu, Yi-Hsuan, and Haipeng Li (Science, 2023).
- "The Greatest Invention in the History of Humanity," by Cat Bohannon (The Atlantic, 2023).
- "A Newborn Infant Chimpanzee Snatched and Cannibalized Immediately After Birth: Implications for 'Maternity Leave' in Wild Chimpanzee," by Hitonaru Nishie and Michio Nakamura (American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 2018).
- "War in the Womb," by Suzanne Sadedin (Aeon, 2014).
- "Timing of Childbirth Evolved to Match Women’s Energy Limits," by Erin Wayman (Smithsonian Magazine, 2012).
- "Bonobo Sex and Society," by Frans B. M. de Waal (Scientific American, 2006).