Regulator Of Lipid Metabolism Ensures High Quality Breast Milk

Mouse mammary glands deficient in PPAR³, a nuclear receptor that regulates the storage of fat, produce toxic milk that causes inflammation and baldness in suckling pups, report scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. "We were quite surprised by the unexpected quality control mechanism that ensures the quality of breast milk," says Ronald M. Evans, Ph.D., professor in the Salk Institute's Gene Expression Laboratory and a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator. "Our finding explains why breast milk is always clean and healthful, even when there's a lot of inflammation going on in the mother's body," he adds.