Why new mums should prioritise lettuce to boost milk production

Human milk feeding can help premature infants thrive. Yet, those with premature infants can be challenged in milk production. Now, experts say new mothers’ intake of lettuce can help boost breast milk volume and, subsequently, weight gains for their preterm baby.

In a study, researchers suggested lettuce as a safe herbal supplement to support mothers in producing adequate milk for their infants.

They found that lettuce syrup may be used orally as an affordable, easily accessible, safe and effective method to increase the volume of milk in humans.

The study, entitled “The effect of orally consumed Lactuca sativa syrup on human milk volume and weight gain in the preterm infant: a randomised controlled clinical trial”, was in Scientific Reports.

Human milk feeding is crucial for infant health, particularly for premature infants, due to its numerous benefits, including improved cognitive development and reduced health risks.

Premature birth in particular is a risk factor in delayed or insufficient human milk feeding. Premature infants are also more likely to be separated from their mothers, and therefore, there could be a delay in the initiation of breastfeeding.

Mothers who do not produce enough milk turn to chemical and herbal enhancers to stimulate milk production. These chemical drugs are associated with many side effects.

Lettuce has a high nutritional value, and its medicinal properties have been widely reported throughout the world. For example, lettuce has already been found to have a protective effect against breast cancer in some premenopausal women and against oesophagal cancer in humans.

The study involved 150 lactating women with preterm infants who were born at less than 32 weeks gestation and admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit of Shahid Akbarabadi Hospital affiliated with Iran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran.

The women were at least 18 years old, able to read and write, willing to exclusively feed their infants with human milk, willing to pump their milk through an electronic pump from the third day of the postpartum period and willing to attend the hospital during the study period.

Preterm infants resulting from twins or multiple births and/or with congenital abnormalities, for example, cleft lip/palate and/or prescribed supplements, were excluded from participation. Infants not consuming human milk exclusively were exempted.

The volume of milk was recorded by the participants in the daily information recorder form. The weight of the infants was also measured and recorded by one of the neonatal intensive care unit staff, who was responsible for weighing the infants.

Participants in the intervention group received 240 ml of lettuce syrup orally. Participants in the placebo group received placebo syrup orally. Participants in both intervention and placebo groups were advised to take one tablespoon three times a day, half an hour after breakfast, lunch, and dinner for one week. Participants in the control group did not receive any herbal or chemical formulas to increase lactation.

To avoid bias and increase the validity of results, participants, the researcher, and the statistician remained unaware of the content of the syrups given to both the intervention and placebo groups.

After adjusting for variables like the mode of birth, the infant’s weight, intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and the volume of milk pumped the previous day, the study reported that the average volume of pumped milk in the test group was higher than in the other two groups.

Conversely, there was no statistically significant difference observed in the mean weight gain of preterm infants (after 1 week) between intervention and control groups. Moreover, there was an absence of side effects caused by the consumption of lettuce syrup in this context.

Going further, they said there will be a need for future studies of Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) to use other medicinal forms of lettuce (e.g., tea, capsule, powder) with varying doses to examine the effect of lettuce syrup on the volume of human milk and subsequent weight gain of preterm infants.

Several other food compositions which include lettuce have also been found to increase milk production, though it is yet to be tested exclusively. Lettuce specifically contains chemical substances, such as phytoestrogens, flavonoid compounds, and lignans.

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They declared, “Prolactin is the most important hormone related to human milk feeding, and stimulating the production and expression of its receptor is the responsibility of oestrogen; it can be assumed that lettuce has milk-enhancing properties due to the presence of phytoestrogens. Thus, the results presented here should not be considered surprising.”

Furthermore, lettuce has diuretic, laxative, moisturising and thirst-quenching effects, which are also known to be one of the things that can increase milk production.

Many herbals and foods are commonly used for their milk-enhancing properties. The list is quite extensive and includes almonds, basil, carrots, chicken broth/soup, chickpeas, coconut, fenugreek, flax seeds, garlic, ginger, green beans, hibiscus, lemon balm, lentils, lettuce, moringa, millet, mushrooms, spinach, sweet potatoes, and turmeric.