Magazines

Subscribe to our print & digital magazines now

Subscribe

Coronavirus can be cured with consumption of Breast Milk: Study

Beijing scientists have conducted an experiment on human breast milk and found that the breast milk treated cells are unaffected when exposed to the viral genes.

Updated on: 28 September, 2020 6:00 PM IST By: Prity Barman

In 2017, a research team from University of Chemical Technology with Professor Tong Yigang had collected some of the breast milk from a mother and have started experimenting this year on the effects of the breast milk on the deadly Covid-19 Virus.

The entire experiment was conducted using entire human body cell lines from gut to lungs and liver.  Professor Tong and his team moved forward with the experiment by first taking some healthy cells from a healthy body and mixing it with some of the breast milk which was collected and then exposed it to the virus.

The researchers upon observation found out that the virus couldn’t attach itself to the healthy breast milk treated cells; instead it also prevented the virus from replicating itself into the already infected cells. The same experiment was conducted using Cow and goats milk but the effect was only 70% whereas the efficiency of human breast milk was 100%.

Therefore, this made them to conclude that the breast milk can prevent the infection of corona virus just like how it prevents other infections like HIV and other bacterial disease. On further discussion they concluded that the virus was affected because of the special proteins present in Human Breast milk most likely the whey proteins which are a group of whole other different proteins.

Further studies of Tong and his team showed that the human breast milk could fight corona virus on a large scale of cells without causing any kind of side effects such as extra cell proliferation during the killing of the virus.

Now several studies and people claimed that the affected mothers should be counted as a carrier of Covid-19 too and hence should be prevented from feeding their babies their breast milk as it can transmit. According to a survey almost 50 infected mother’s breast feeding their babies among whom only 3 had the viral genes and only one of the babies was infected that too could be due to other factors.

 However, WHO denied and had asked the mothers to feed their babies too.

Prof. Tong and his team also conducted experiment and have proved that on heating the breast milk to a higher degree like 90 or 100 inactivates the whey proteins therefore, making the breast milk of no use for protection against the corona virus. This cleared the false claims of contamination of milk and heating it before giving it to other babies.

As a concluding statement Tong had conveyed that the experiment should be preceded further studying the key factors of the breast milk which has generated the response so that it could be used for proper drug development.

Test Your Knowledge on International Day for Biosphere Reserves Quiz. Take a quiz