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The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
Wellness Unmasked: Breastfeeding vs. Formula: Why Human Milk Is a Living System
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Welcome to Wellness and Mass with Dr. Nicole Safire. I am Dr. Nicole Saffire. And today's episode, we are going to talk about something near and dear to my heart. And I'm talking literally in three. Figuratively. That's right. We're talking about breastfeeding. Now, we tend to oversimplify this because most of us just think of human breast milk as food, calories, fat, protein, something you can just list on a label. But the reality is human breast milk, it's not static nutrition, it's quite dynamic. It's a living system that adapts to a baby's needs in real time. So while we can talk about, oh, formula feeding is equivalent to breastfeeding. No, it's not. The reality is breast milk changes hour to hour, day to day, week to week, month to month, based on the baby's needs. And that matters because when we talk about rising childhood illness, immune dysfunction, allergies, asthma, obesity, this is one of the earliest biological exposures that we just can't ignore. Breastfeeding isn't just about bonding, although obviously it is an incredible bonding session between baby and mother. It's also about immune education for the baby, gut development and long term health programming and the science behind it. It's actually starting to go viral. That's why I talked about it this past weekend on Fox and Friends, because the more we study human breast milk, just the more impressive it becomes. Human breast milk changes by the day, by the feeding, even by the time of day. Early milk, also called colostrum, is packed with antibodies, especially IgA. This acts as a newborn's first immune shield. As the baby grows, the milk shifts. The composition of what's in the milk changes to based on what the baby needs. The protein levels decrease as the kidneys mature, because too much protein for kidneys, baby or adults is not a good thing. And the fat and lactose actually increase as the brain growth accelerates because we need those healthy fatty acids for brain growth. Even within one feeding. The foremilk, you know, the milk that comes at the beginning, as soon as you start breastfeeding, this is more hydrating, while the hind milk, the milk kind of towards the end of the session delivers more calories, so, so that the baby feels satiated, meaning that the baby feels full. That's not accidental. It's biological sequencing. It's intentional. So now this is where the data becomes absolutely impossible to ignore. Breastfed Infants have lower rates of respiratory infections, ear infections, GI illness, and hospitalizations in the first year of life. We also see reduced risk of necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm infants, one of the most devastating neonatal conditions. So breast milk doesn't just provide antibodies. It teaches the baby's immune system what to tolerate and what to fight that immune education early in life, it matters not just early in life, but it continues to matter throughout their entire childhood and maybe even to adulthood. Now here's the part that has really fascinated people, especially scientists, and it's gotten picked up recently in the last week and has really just gone viral on social media. When a baby is sick, signals from the baby's saliva when it attaches to the breast actually interact with the breast, the mother's hormones, and it triggers changes in the milk composition. Immune cells to help fight infection are released. Antibodies adjust the same way. Now, this is what we called targeted immune support, customized for that baby. In that moment, beat that formula. You can't. So anthropologist Katie Hind, I think her name, she essentially helped redefine how we think about breast milk. And it is her research that has recently gone viral. I also noticed that she is now, I believe, at Arizona State University. Yay, forks up my alma mater. But really interesting. Her research essentially showed that the milk from the human breast varies based on the baby's age, sex and development needs. In other words, breast milk isn't just nutrition, it's biological messaging, it's information. And that's why her work is resonating so much now with so many people, because it just challenges the idea that milk is generic, that it can be easily replaced. And it reminds us that evolution doesn't do like this one size fits all thing. And, you know, the benefits of breastfeeding doesn't stop in infancy. Kind of what I talked about earlier. Breastfed children continue to have lower rates of asthma, allergies, obesity, type 2 diabetes, later in life, through teen years, through adulthood. And there's emerging data linking breastfeeding to improved cognitive outcomes. You know, like healthier brain being able to do better on tests, maybe even lower rates of dementia. I haven't seen that, but I'm going to guess potentially. And also just healthier metabolic profiles in general. So it's not about like perfection, but it's all about this early biological programming that is intentionally done with human breast milk that happens when you breastfeed. This sets the foundation for long term health. But let's be honest, not everyone can breastfeed. Okay, I understand that Obviously, my specialty is a breast imager. I have patients who can't breastfeed. Maybe they had bilateral mastectomy. For whatever reason, they can't breastfeed. I was blessed and fortunate enough with my three children. I produced a ton of milk. I was able to breastfeed all three of my kids for a year. And I had about three to six months of frozen milk in the freezer by the time I finished at 12 months. So they were able to continue having breast milk close to being two years of age. It was wonderful. Very grateful that I can do it. It was a bonding experience. The reality is it was a very stressful experience, but I'm so happy that I was able to do it. But not everyone has that situation. And that is why formula was developed. It was developed about a century ago for women who couldn't breastfeed. Maybe at that time, a mother who died during childbirth. And, you know, sometimes they had wet nurses, they had women who were breastfeeding, and they would just come and feed all the babies. It's kind of interesting if you think about it, but sometimes that wasn't available. So hence the birth of formula, because formula was developed to save lives. Babies need nutrition, and it does. For babies specifically who cannot receive breast milk. Formula is essential. But the reality is, over time, formula shifted from just being a medical backup to being a cultural default. Not because breast milk stopped being superior. It hasn't. In fact, the more we know about it, the more superior it continues to be. But because society has stopped supporting breastfeeding and, you know, we have these shortened maternity leaves, lack of lactation support, we. Workplace barriers, women just being in the workplace in general. And a lot of women are on medications that are contraindicated to breastfeed and anxiety and depression and all these other things that are really stopping women from breastfeeding. Formula has become easier, but it doesn't mean it's better. But the reality is today's formula is more advanced than ever. Manufacturers are beginning to add, like, dha, which are like, healthy fatty acids that are essential for the baby's brain development, eye development, and others. They're really trying their best to mimic human breast milk. They're also adding probiotics and synthetic human milk oligosaccharides, whatever they can do to really try to replicate breast milk. But interestingly, the more complex formula becomes, the more quality and safety concerns are emerging. We are seeing not high number, but not an insignificant number of recalls, contamination issues, heavy metals being found in some of the formulas. I mean, you saw what the first lady was doing down in Florida, she tested, you know, two to three dozen baby formulas, and it tested positive over the recommended limits of things like cyanide. Now, I know that sounds terrifying and arsenic and all these other things, but the reality is some of these do exist in nature. And there's actually an acceptable amount seen in water. Like, we have to monitor our drinking supply because we assume that you're going to see some of these contaminants because they're in the soil and it just gets in there. And so scientists have determined, you know, what's the amount that's acceptable that's not going to cause health issues. And so they have those numbers for, say, water. What they don't have those numbers for is baby formula. And the reality is, if you're testing baby formula and they test positive for some of these things, then what happens? Well, the powder baby formulas you mix water into, so the water already probably has its limit of these. And now you're mixing that water with the baby formula. And no one has actually looked at this to say, hey, is this too much? Can we be giving this much to the babies? It's a big concern. And again, the more complex the formula becomes, as they try to mimic human breast milk, they have to get more ingredients. And what we're seeing is our supply chain nightmares. Because if a formula, say, is manufactured in Europe, one specific example is they were trying to get this particular fatty acid that actually came from Wuhan, China, of all places, if you can believe it. Well, that turned out to be contaminated. And so, you know, the fatty acid came from China, and then this part came from this place in Europe, and then that combination came to the United States, and then it was packaged up here, and then it comes to the United, you know, and then it's in the stores here in the United States. Well, so we've started to see there's some kids who've gotten sick. There's actually, tragically, a couple who have died from some very recent recalls. I think the most prominent and recent ones are by heart, whole nutrition infant formula. There was a potential contamination with Clostridium botulinum. You may have heard of it more as, like, you know, botox. And that's essentially what that is. But botulism can be deadly, and it is a toxin that comes from a bacteria. And in November 2025, they announced a recall of all Bioheart products, including all lots of cans and single serve, these sticks kind of everything. And as of January 2026, FDA is still receiving Reports of the recalled formula being found on store shelves, and hello, there's potentially botulinum in there. It's just. It's crazy. And it's not just with this one. And by the way, this Bihart. This Bihart company came to try and be one of the healthier formulas that's supposed to be more like breast milk. And yet here we are, they're already having a big recall. Nestle, one of the biggest formula companies, they have a potential contamination with cerulide, which is another bacterial toxin, bacillus toxin, that can cause severe nausea and vomiting. And a whole global recall was initiated in January 2026, affecting products in over 50 countries. I mean, that's crazy. And the contamination was linked to a raw material supplier. That's the one I was mentioning earlier, because they're trying to get this one fatty acid from China. Just imagine how complicated it is. You have all these various ingredients in these formulas, but that are sourced from all across the world. And all of a sudden, while formula is very regulated, all of these other ingredients are less regulated. And then it's a supply chain nightmare. And there are more recalls. Obviously, you have to go online, you have to look into it, but it's very scary. And so when we're talking about formula, we know we want to do what's best for our babies, but you have to be very careful. And especially as these formulas are getting so complex in their ingredient lists, you know, it's really important to know what you're getting. The FDA needs to get on this and make sure that these formulas are safe. We also, if you look at the formulas that are manufactured here in the United States, a lot of them, the second or third ingredient are like seed oils. There's high in sugar. No wonder that we have such obesity in our children. Something has to change. I mean, it is. It's really detrimental. But, you know, going back to the formula. So what I'm. What I was trying to get to is the fact that formulas are trying. These formula manufacturers are trying really hard to mimic Cuban breast milk, because it's just. You cannot argue breast is best. Breast milk is much healthier for the babies than any sort of formula. So they're trying really hard, really, for marketing to mimic human breast milk. Whether or not it'll ever be as good, it won't be. And I'll tell you why. Even if they can match the ingredient list, human breast milk is not just an ingredient list. And that's what we were talking about earlier. Formula may be nutritionally adequate, but it's biologically static, not like human breast milk, which I'm telling you is biologically dynamic. It changes premature infants. The milk that is coming out of that woman's breast to that baby is a different composition than full term infants because the body knows what that baby needs. Just like we were saying, if the baby has an infection, there's an immune response. So there's just no replacing human breast milk. And for anyone who has the ability to breastfeed, you should absolutely try. And I'm tired, I'm tired of hearing the industry saying, oh, it doesn't matter, it's the same, it's not the same. Yes, formula, absolutely an excellent alternative in those instances where a woman cannot breastfeed. But we have to get away from this women empowerment. You don't need to breastfeed. There's equivalent blah, blah, blah. It's just not true. If breastfeeding is possible, it matters. It matters for immune resilience, it matters for gut health and it matters for just overall reducing childhood illness and long term disease risk. We are in a state where chronic illness is at an all time high. Not just in adults, in children as well. Is some of that because fewer women are breastfeeding and they're certainly breastfeeding for a shortened amount of time. It's possible, even partial breastfeeding, you know, combined with formula, it gives benefits. It's not an all or nothing science at all. But if we truly believe breastfeeding is important, which I do, then the support can't stop at just the recommendations. We can't say, hey, gotta do e can to breastfeed. Good luck. We have to show up in policy and practice. It really does. So I'm going back to my first pregnancy. You know, I, well, I was very young, but I was breastfeeding my son when I was in college. That was a nightmare. I was going to class, I was pumping in between classes. I was running to see him during lunch and, and trying to feed him directly. Logistically, that was a nightmare. And my next two sons, I was working full time so I would pump during the day and it was a mess. I was spilling milk. It was all over me. I always had to have a cooler, but I did it. It was hard, but I did it and it was great. But we have to make it easier for women. Okay. My youngest son is now 12 years old. Are just about 12 years old. So it's been a while for me. I know things have gotten a little bit better. I see these little breastfeeding pods when I Walk through the airport. And maybe that's getting to the right page. There's obviously still a lot more we can do just from the very basic level. We can talk about finances. So if a woman chooses to breastfeed and not use formula, formula I think on average costs about $2,000 for that first year. Depending on which type you use. Obviously it can be more expensive, it can be less expensive. But when a woman choose to breastfeed, you know that's not free because oftentimes you need to have a breast pump, special bras, pads. And let's not forget the fact that women who breastfeed nursing mothers need to consume an extra 400 to 500 calories a day because they are just burning through those calories by breastfeeding. So that increases grocery bills. So what can we do to support breastfeeding women? Well, good news is a lot of this has already been done, but people don't know about it and so they're not utilizing it. Breast pumps, those others, you can pay for them through pre tax dollars with your health savings accounts. They're also available through Women, Infants and children program, sometimes pediatrician's office, sometimes have vouchers that they can help. Your insurance providers often will cover a lot of this stuff. It's just a matter of using those resources. But we also have to talk about the long term savings of it all. Beyond the first year. Breastfeeding reduces medical costs associated with common childhood illnesses like we were just talking about. Obviously this leads to additional savings for the entire families. How much? Hard to say. But if your child has a decreased risk of getting asthma or allergies or something else through their childhood, that's certainly not just gonna save you money, but it's going to save, you know, you a lot of heartache during childhood. Going through the doctor visits and missing, missing work, all of that. Women also need to utilize lactational consultants. I know it sounds funny, but they're usually in the hospital. They usually will stop by to see if you want help with breastfeeding. And there is no shame in asking for help. And by the way, if you go home with your baby and you find yourself, you know, a week or two week later and you're still having trouble breastfeeding, talk to your pediatrician. They can put you in touch with a lactational consultant. It's not like, oh, if you don't use them when you're in the hospital, that's your one. It's not, you know, stand up now or forever hold, hold your peace. It's not like that. They are available to you, they will help you. And if you are just looking for some also natural ways to increase your breast milk production, you know, you can try increasing the frequency of feeding. Make sure you empty both breasts every time you feed. So offer both breasts to the baby and that helps encourage more milk production. And if the baby just isn't eating and you still feel like your breasts are full, double pump, use a high quality electric pump. Pump both sides simultaneously for like 10 to 15 minutes after feeding to just really empty your breasts. Because that sends a chemical signal to the brain to start focus on product producing more milk. Now there are also some dietary things you can do. It's called galactagogues, which is just a very fancy medical term for what's going to help you increase your milk production. Oatmeal is a huge recommendation because barley, quinoa, brown rice, all of those oats and grains, you know, not the heavily processed one, but more the natural ones, they can really help your leafy greens like iron rich dark green vegetables, kale, spinach, arugula seeds and nuts like fennel, flaxseeds, sesame seeds, almonds, and also, you know, my favorite, you know, I love my herbs, garlic, ginger and cumin, all of these things can help increase milk production. You want to make sure you're staying hydrated. You don't want to over drink, but you want to make sure that you are drinking the best you can. And what you are drinking obviously matters. I'm talking about water here, carbonated beverages, caffeine, vitamin C and vitamin B actually can decrease your milk supply. I know you want to be, you know, taking vitamins. You think it's keeping your body healthy, but excess vitamins can actually decrease your milk supply. Also peppermint and spearmint can also decrease milk supply. And so does sage, by the way. So if you can avoid some of those things, that's the best thing you can do. It's not also just what you're eating and drinking. The reality is you absolutely need to be getting some sleep and focusing on your stress. Because the more stress hormones you have circulating, the worse off you're going to be. Because all of a sudden your body is going to be focusing on fighting your own stress and not focusing on producing your milk. You really have to get your body physically and mentally to the best place possible to maintain adequate milk production. And while I know, I know, I know, I know as soon as the baby's born, we're all like, all right, I gotta lose this Weight, get rid of this baby weight. The good news is Breastfeeding burns approximately 500 to 700 extra calories per day. That's more than I burn on a peloton ride. So that's the great thing. The problem is, if you start losing weight too fast, like if you start doing some extreme dieting or exercising because you just really want to lose that baby weight, you are not going to have enough calories in your body to produce that milk. So be very careful what you're doing, because the more weight you lose, if you. Especially if you lose it rapidly, it's going to be more difficult for you to produce milk. So let's just tie this all back up. I know a lot of people listening. You're not in the market for breastfeeding. I know I'm certainly not. But it doesn't mean we can't be educated on it. And there's people around us, whether it's our own children, it's our friends, it's our colleagues. You know, I think it's just really important that we all understand the true benefits of breastfeeding. And we do what we can to support those around us who are trying to breastfeed. Because if we take the stigma away from it and we support people when they're trying to do what's right for their baby, the more people we are going to see breastfeeding. So breastfeeding, it's not about moral superiority or parental perfection. It's about biology. Human breast milk is dynamic, it's adaptive, and it's responsive in ways modern science still cannot fully replicate. Listen, formula has its role, but it's not equivalent. And pretending it is does not serve families or children. The real conversation isn't breast versus formula. It's how can we support mothers, protect our babies, and let biology and nature do what it's designed to do whenever possible? Because the more we study breast milk, the clearer it becomes. It's not just food, it's early medicine supporting breastfeeding. It's not nostalgia. It's not whatever you want to call it. It's preventative medicine, and we all need to get on board. I'm Dr. Nicole Safire. Thank you so much for listening to wellness. Be sure to catch all episodes of Wellness unmass on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And I'll see you next time.
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