Preparation by the mother should start before the baby is born. Pregnant women store fat to be used later in making their milk. After the baby is born the fatty acids stored in the mother's body and supplied by her daily diet are used in the production of her milk. If she has eaten and continues to eat foods which supply ample amounts of MCFA, particularly lauric acid and capric acid (the two most important antimicrobial medium-chain fatty acids), her milk will provide maximum benefit to her baby. These mothers can have as much as 18 percent of the saturated fatty acids in their milk in the form of lauric and capric acids.

If the mother did not eat foods containing MCFA and does not eat them while nursing, her mammary glands will only be capable of producing about 3 percent lauric acid and 1 percent capric acid. Her child will lose a great deal of the nutritional benefits as well as the antimicrobial protection the infant could have otherwise had.

Protection from Illness

One of the major characteristics of human breast milk is its ability to protect infants from a myriad of infectious illnesses during a time when their immune systems are immature and incapable of adequately defending themselves. The protective antimicrobial substances in milk that protect the child from a world teaming with infectious germs and parasites are the MCFA. There are some illnesses that even an adult with a healthy immune system may have difficulty fighting off. If the baby is not protected with an adequate amount of MCFA in his or her milk, exposure to such an infection could result in serious illness.

When a nursing mother is infected with such an illness, her child is also vulnerable. Mothers infected by certain viruses can pass the infection on to their infants through breastfeeding. In these cases breastfeeding is not recommended. This is particularly true when the mother is infected with a dangerous virus such as HIV. Recent research has shown that mothers who include a source of lauric acid, such as coconut oil, in their diets have lower risk of infecting their nursing infants. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Aug. 27, 1999) reported that adding coconut to the diet would be beneficial because it would provide increased lauric and capric acid to the mother's milk, thus reducing the risk of transferring the virus. The presence of the MCFA in the milk lowers the level of the virus in the milk and thus helps lower the risk of transmission of the disease.

While HIV-infected mothers are usually advised not to breastfeed their young for fear that the virus may be transferred, there is no feasible option in some parts of the world. Many women in resource-poor areas do not have the financial means to buy infant formula. Breastfeeding is really their only option. Adding coconut products and coconut oil to the mother's diet is the only practical defense these women have against passing the AIDS virus to their children.