Ever wonder if breast milk tastes different depending on what you eat? We're digging into the science behind flavored breast milk and how it can impact your kids. 

Many might be surprised to know that a cow's diet affects the flavor of its milk-- and the same concept rings true for women who are lactating. 

Dr. Karl Kruszelniki says that once you eat a chemical it goes through your body  and then eventually ends up in the breast milk. When it comes to flavoring of the milk, that all depends on what you eat. Food chemicals can flow through the body and be directly passed into breast milk, unchanged. So, if you’re eating strawberries it is possibly to make strawberry flavored milk. This concept of natural flavoring was first tested in cows but is known to have the same effect on humans. 

Studies show that when lactating women eat food like garlic, it causes babies to latch on and feed for longer. As adults, our food choices are based on genetics and partly our environment so a wide range of breastmilk flavor as a child can result in eating a wider range of variety of food. For example, infants who like carrot flavored cereal were probably exposed to the flavor while being breastfed. 

When breastfeeding, doctors recommend eating plenty of protein, calcium and iron- but don’t forget those veggies because it could have a major impact on whether your child likes them too.

This video, "Can Humans Produce Flavored Breast Milk?", first appeared on
nowthisnews.com.