Call to Action on Food Justice and Feeding Disparities in Infants

Breast milk, the first biologically produced food for infants is facing social and environmental injustice among women in the U.S and is the basis for future immune response.

Breast milk is the first food that is biologically produced for infants, which is the basis for their future immune response is now facing social and environmental injustice, reveals a new study.

The "first food system" in the U.S., //which calls for exclusive feeding of breast milk for an infant's first 6 months followed by the addition of nutritious foods, is fraught with injustices and social and environmental inequities that prevent many infants and caregivers from achieving these goals.

Caring for a Premature Baby
A baby born at 37 weeks or earlier is termed premature or “preemie.” The premature baby requires special care and attention in an NICU as well as at home.

‘Food Justice Movement has emerged from many communities in response to food insecurity, social and economic injustices that prevent access to healthy, nutritious, and culturally appropriate foods.’

A provocative new article that introduces the "first food justice movement" and proposes activism to advance food justice in theory and in practice is published in Environmental Justice, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. publishers.

In the article entitled "First Food Justice = Food Justice = Environmental Justice: A Call to Address Infant Feeding Disparities and the First Food System" Erica Morrell, PhD, Middlebury College, VT, discusses the many reasons why women may be unable to breastfeed their infants exclusively and why many infants may lack access to breast milk, including workplace policies, cultural factors, and laws against breastfeeding in public. Dr. Morrell also describes some of the first food justice movement's strategies and achievements.

"Dr. Morrell advances the concept of food justice in this watershed article," says Environmental Justice Editor-in-Chief Sylvia Hood Washington, PhD, MSE, MPH, and a LEED AP, and Sustainability Director, Environmental Health Research Associates, LLC.

Direction for Breast Feeding
Encyclopedia section of medindia explains in brief about the directions of breast feeding

"Breast milk is not only the first food biologically produced specifically for infants, it is also the basis for their future immune response. Its corruption from environmental contaminants is an environmental injustice that is clearly elucidated in this article."

Effects of Consuming Alcohol while Breastfeeding
Is alcohol safe during breastfeeding? The answer and the effects of consumption of alcohol by a lactating mother on her breastfed infant.

Source-Eurekalert

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