Milk doesn't just pass nutrition from mother to baby, but information about the world outside. Exactly how this happens is the focus of Rachael Anyim's research at Binghamton University.
A doctoral candidate in anthropology, she recently received a $25,000 Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork Grant to aid her data collection efforts. The grant is awarded to research projects that advance anthropological literature and the understanding of what it means to be a human being.
"Being awarded the Wenner-Gren grant is a fantastic opportunity and a dream come true," she said.
Anyim's research focuses on cortisol, considered the quintessential stress hormone - although there are others at work in our bodies, including adrenaline and noradrenaline, she pointed out. Currently, the evidence is ambiguous as to whether maternal stress contributes to cortisol in breast milk. Higher levels of milk cortisol are associated with first-time mothers and pre-term babies, while lower levels are associated with greater maternal education, for example.
