Should boys and girls get different formula milk?
Researcher found monkeys produce gender-specific milk. So what does this mean for humans?
A researcher is suggesting that formula milk companies should produce two different types of milk - one for boys and one for girls.
The researcher Katie Hinde from Harvard University found that nursing monkeys make different milk depending on whether they're feeding a male or a female monkey.
She found that the milk produced for male baby monkeys is fattier and higher in protein, while milk for female babies is higher in calcium and less rich, but there’s more of it.
According to the Daily Mail, findings revealed at The American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual conference showed that human studies, trying to establish if there's any difference between milk for boys or girls, have so far had mixed results.
However, studies on human babies have found that girls, but not boys, get more irritable if their mother’s milk is high in cortisol – the stress hormone.
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Calling for more research on gender-specific formula milk, Dr Hinde said: “Public health would be aided if greater attention was paid to this.
“We have good reasons to be sceptical of a one-size-fits-all formula milk.”
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