Mothering magazine--contaminants in breastmilk

[mum2sarah]

If any of you read Mothering magazine, you know that there were three articles in the current issue about contaminants in breastmilk. They were very interesting articles, but I was disappointed to notice that nowhere did it mention that a vegetarian/vegan diet drastically reduces toxins in breastmilk. The closest they came was suggesting that you limit your consumption of animal fats, but I feel this should have had a greater emphasis. After all, I remember reading in Diet for a New America and in Compassionate Souls about a study which found the levels of pollutants in the breastmilk of vegetarian women to be only ONE TO TWO PERCENT that of the average American woman. I think that's pretty signifcant and worth mentioning! I wanted to write a tactful, friendly letter to the editor about this omission, but was wondering if anyone knew of any other studies done comparing contaminants in the breastmilk of veg*ans to that of omnivores. The one study I mentioned above is fairly old, being published in 1981, so I was looking for something more current to support this. Any sources anyone? Or ideas on how to word such a letter?

[Erin Pavlina]

Word it as something informative that you wanted to make sure they were aware of in case they didn't know. I would be more likely to publish that then something critical. know what I mean?

[Ckflew]

mum2Sarah:

Check the "helping out a friend" post on the General Chat board (I think). There's a link to an anti-soy article, and then a very good one that refutes it - and gives some information on levels of contaminants in breast milk for omnis and vegans.