Sadhguru's Claims On Breast Milk: Here's What Research Says

A 2017 video of Jaggi Vasudev the spiritual guru popularly known as Sadhguru claiming lactating women produce different qualities of milk from each breast for twins of opposite sexes, has been revived on Twitter, with many mocking the statement.

While BOOM found that there have been scientific studies that state lactating women produce milk with different nutrients for male or female infants,  we did not find research that supported the claim that twins of opposite sexes receive different nutrients from breast milk.

The snippet is originally from a March 2017 video of Vasudev at a conclave in Indian Institute Of Technology, (IIT) Delhi. 

A screenshot from a video and a quote was shared by the Twitter account Indian Atheists. The tweet attributes the following statement to Vasudev and was retweeted over 1,800 times. The quote, however, is not a verbatim transcript of what Vasudev actually said. 

Following Indian Atheist's tweet, several netizens spoke in support of as well as against Vasudev.

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Fact Check

The video is orignally from March 7, 2017 Vasudev was at IIT Delhi's Youth & Truth- IIT Students in Conversation With Sadhguru, where he was asked by an audience member about how nourishment and intelligence work inside the womb.

Vasudev responded by explaining how the nourishment and the environment of the mother is equally important for the child's growth.

At the 3:17 seconds mark, Vasudev mentions the contentious statement in question.

 "The intelligence of the body is such if you already do not know this. If a woman delivers a male child, the quality of the milk that she produces is in a certain way. If you delivers a female child, the quality of the milk is totally different. If she delivers a twin, if she delivers twins, one male and one female, one breast will ooze certain type of milk another breast will ooze another kind of milk. This is the level of intelligence invested in this body."  - Jaggi Vasudev

The statements suggesting that the quality of the milk differs separately for the two sexes can be explained by research studies but the statement suggesting that the breasts will produce different types of milk for twins of the opposite gender is difficult to verify as we could not find any specific study on the quality of breast milk for twins of same or opposite sex. 

For the full conversation at IIT, watch the video here. 

Vasudev made three statements with regards to breastfeeding. 

1. Women who deliver male children produce different quality of milk

2. Women who deliver female children produce different quality of milk

3. Women who deliver twins of opposite sexes produce different quality of milk for both the children.

BOOM found studies that suggest that the quality of milk produced by lactating women is different when a woman delivers a male and a female child but could not find any studies supporting the same when a woman gives birth to twins of opposite genders. 

Quality of milk means the milk contains the necessary minerals, vitamins, fats, carbohydrates, amino acids and other nutrients required for the healthy growth and development of the child. 

In a study from Sudan published in 2018, the researchers tested milk quality of 48 lactating women who were breastfeeding 24 male infants and 24 female infants and found that the fat content was higher in the milk that male infants consumed over female infants. The study however did not take into consideration the mothers and the infants ages.

Researchers from New Zealand published a review of six studies in 2018 that highlights lactating women produce different quality of milk for male and female children. These studies conducted across the world studied the composition of human milk and tested it for various nutrients essential for child development. The respective studies are inspired from animal models wherein the sex of the infant determines the maternal milk composition. 

A 2009 Harvard University study collected breast milk from 25 women of Massachusetts with infants between 2-5 months of age showed that the milk consumed by male infants had a higher energy content. The study took into consideration other confounding factors such as feeding patterns, sex of the infant, and maternal breast growth during pregnancy.

Another anthropological study conducted by Michigan State University conducted in Northern Kenya highlights the role of socio-economic status on the kind of nourishment received by infants. The study tests the hypothesis that in higher socio-economic settings, women tend to invest more in male children but in poorer settings tend to invest more in female children. The study found that economically sufficient mothers produced richer milk for sons than daughters while poor mothers produced richer milk for daughters than sons. Thus, there are multiple factors associated with the quality of milk produced by women. 

A Korean study found that human milk consumed by female infants was richer in comparison to male infants, while an Iraqi study found that male infants received a higher concentration of potassium while female infants received a higher concentration of sodium and calcium. A Filipino study showed completely different results by showing that the sex of the infant does not affect the human milk composition. 

Majority of the studies indicate that the quality of milk differs for the two genders but cannot conclude which nutrient is found in better concentrations in human milk across the globe. 

BOOM also reached out to Dr. Shantanu Sharma, Assistant Director, Maternal Newborn and Child Health and Nutrition, MAMTA Delhi, to understand whether women who deliver twins of opposite sexes produce different milk for both the children.

"UNICEF and Indian guidelines speak about initiation of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding but do not comment about any difference of milk in twins of opposite sex. Mothers produce enough milk to breastfeed both the children is all that the guidelines speak about. No conclusive studies talk about difference in milk for opposite sex.", stated Dr. Sharma. 

There are no studies discussing the quality of breast milk for women with twins of opposite sex. A larger study was conducted by researchers from London and California to understand the differences in growth between same-sex and opposite-sex twins. The study states that twins of opposite sex may be at a disadvantage as recent studies show that human and other mammalian breast milk may be tailored for the sex of the offspring. The breast milk that twins of opposite sex receive cannot simultaneously be tailored for both sexes, and thus they may be at a disadvantage for growth compared with same-sex twins.

Sadhguru's claims on twins of opposite sex are contradictory to the findings of the above mentioned study. 

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