Human milk is one of the few foods nearly everyone on the planet has consumed, but it’s been researched very little until recently. The Human Milk Institute at UC San Diego is the first academic institution in the U.S. devoted to decoding the complexities of human milk.

LA Times science reporter Corinne Purtill joined Lisa McRee on “LA Times Today” to talk about the institute.

There has been research into lactation and the benefits of breast milk for infants. Purtill explained which questions the new center will try to answer. 

“We don’t know why some women produce more milk than others. We don’t know why it is that women can produce very different types of milk and quantities of milk in between their different pregnancies. Given the significance of this substance to our species, the health of our species as a whole, it’s really surprising that we don’t know that,” she said.

UC San Diego opened the Human Milk Institute last month. Purtill talked about the work they are doing. 

“There is a lab that’s devoted to studying the biochemistry of the substance itself. There is the milk bank, which collects donated milk from nursing mothers. Unlike blood or bone marrow, there are no biomarkers that determine who you can give donated milk to. ... There’s also a bio repository which contains a huge library of breast milk samples that lets us know what happens to breast milk if the nursing parent gets a certain illness or is taking a certain medication,” she explained.

Breastfeeding has been shown to lead to long-term health benefits for babies, but being able to exclusively breastfeed isn’t an option for many new mothers.

The institute hopes to bring resources to more people who are breastfeeding.

Watch the full interview above. 

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