Page 43 - The Miracle of Hormones
P. 43

The Two Governors Of Our Body:
                            The Hypothalamus And The Pituitary Gland


                 The Wonder of Mother's Milk:
                 The Prolactin and Oxytocin Hormones at Work

                 The nutritional needs of a newly born baby are very different from
            those of an adult. Because a baby's immune system is weak compared to
            that of an adult, it is necessary to give it support from outside. The ideal

            nutrient to respond to all the new baby's needs is mother's milk. Research
            has shown that breast-fed children are much more healthy and their bod-
            ies are better developed. 7
                 Another wonder of mother's milk is that it changes its composi-
            tion according to the changing needs of the baby at each stage of its
            development. The huge baby food producers have spent millions of
            dollars on research trying to determine the ideal mixture of ingredi-
            ents for a baby's healthy development. So far, they have not found a
            perfect mixture, but they have determined that a special mixture is
            needed to meet the requirements of the baby at each stage of its devel-
            opment. In laboratories equipped with the most advanced technology,
            attempts have been made to produce artificial baby food similar to
            mother's milk, but no artificial nutrient has yet been developed to take
            its place.
                 Here is a real wonder. A few cells in the mother's breast calculate all
            the needs of a newborn baby in the outside world; that is, the needs of a
            being they have never before seen or encountered. Then they produce

            what scientists have never succeeded in producing in the laboratory—
            mother's milk with its perfect mixture of nutrients. However, the cells
            that make up the milk glands in the mother's breast are, like other cells,
            unconscious, without intelligence; yet it is possible for them to calculate
            the formula needed to produce it.
                 How does the production of mother's milk begin and how is it con-
            trolled? A number of wonders of creation are hidden in the answer to this
            question. In the production of milk, the hormonal system and the nervous
            system work in concert and the production occurs after planning based on





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