Advances in Nutritional Research Volume 10, 2001 Immunological Properties of Milk Advances in Nutritional Research Series, Vol. 10

This volume of Advances in Nutritional Research focuses on colostrum and milk as agents of defense against infection both for the suckling offspring and for the lactating mammary gland. The scope of the volume includes positive and negative influences of the consumption of mother's milk on the risk of infec­ tion, immunobiological roles of individual milk components, activities of milk and its components in promoting development of neonatal immunocompetence, the potential of milk and its components as therapeutic agents and as functional foods that support immune competence, and external influences that determine the immunological activity of milk. The volume is intended to provide a critical assessment of the limits of available information pertaining to humans and animals, together with authoritative comment regarding newer directions and unproven ideas. Part I provides a foundation for the volume. Readers unfamiliar with immunology will find, in Chapter 1, a selective outline of the anatomy and ontogeny of the mammalian immune system and of the types and regulation of immune defenses in mammals. Some emphasis is given to the place of the mammary gland within the common mucosal defense system, and to important species peculiarities in this regard. Chapter 2 is an authoritative and forward­ looking perspective on the development of knowledge pertaining to the immuno­ biology of milk as a fluid with both anti-infectious and anti-inflammatory roles. The chapter poses the provocative possibility of a tolerogenic role for milk.

1. Overview of the Mammalian Immune System.- 2. The Immunological System in Human Milk: The Past—A Pathway to the Future.- 3. Immunological Activities Associated with Milk.- 4. Breast Milk and the Risk of Opportunistic Infection in Infancy in Industrialized and Non-Industrialized Settings.- 5. Breast Milk Transmission of Viral Disease.- 6. Breast Milk Decreases the Risk of Neonatal Necrotizing Enterocolitis 123.- 7. The Protective Properties of Milk and Colostrum in Non-Human Species.- 8. Mammary Gland Defense: The Role of Colostrum, Milk and Involution Secretion.- 9. Colostrum and Milk in the Treatment of Disease.- 10. The Role of Human Milk Secretory IgA in Protecting Infants from Bacterial Enteritis.- 11. Chemistry of Milk Mucins and their Anti-Microbial Action.- 12. Antimicrobial Actions of Lactoferrin.- 13. The Antimicrobial Function of Milk Lipids.- 14. The Antimicrobial and Immunomodulating Actions of Milk Leukocytes.- 15. Maturation ofImmunocompetence in Breast-Fed vs. Formula-Fed Infants.- 16. Milk Components with Immunomodulatory Potential.- 17. Dietary Whey Proteins and Immunocompetence in the Post-Weaning Stages of Life.- 18. Maternal Modulation of Specific and Non-Specifi Immune Components of Colostrum and Mature Milk.- 19. Milk Banking: The Influence of Storage Procedures and Subsequent Processing on Immunologic Components of Human Milk.