Breast Milk Supply May Be Linked to Insulin Production: Study

Insulin plays an important role in making breast milk, according to a new study that may help explain why many mothers have difficulty producing enough milk to nurse their baby. The researchers describe how milk-producing glands become highly sensitive to insulin during lactation and how specific genes in the glands are switched on during lactation. RNA sequencing technology revealed "in exquisite detail" the blueprint for milk production in the mammary glands, said study corresponding author Laurie Nommsen-Rivers, a scientist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. The findings are published online July 5 in the journal PLoS One. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_138459.html