Integrating Population Outcomes, Biological Mechanisms and Research Methods in the Study of Human Milk and Lactation is the product of the 10th Conference of the International Society for Research on Human Milk and Lactation, held on September 15-19, 2000, in Tucson, Arizona. The presented sessions at the meeting are as diverse as the volume itself. These sessions include the impact of micronutrient deficiencies during lactation on maternal and infant health, the premature infant, developmental immunology, breastfeeding in the industrialized world, and viral transmission in...

Although breast-feeding has long been associated with lowered infant morbid ity and mortality from infectious disease, until relatively recently little was known regarding the individual components of human milk aside from their nutritive func tions and the presence of secretory antibodies. Over the last 40 years, and especially over the last decade, evidence has been growing that human milk contains a large number of materials that are bioactive and that are not found in artificially formu latedinfantdiets. Disparatelinesofresearcharecurrentlyproducingsurprisinglylong...