Alicia Santamaría and Idoia Beltrán PHOTO: Manuel Castells

According to the specialist Alicia Santamaría Orleans, head of training and technical information at Laboratorios ORDESA,"when choosing an infant milk, it is important to ensure that it reproduces the composition of breast milk as closely as possible". This was stated by the expert on the occasion of her participation in a talk on breastfeeding and infant milks organized by the classroom Pharmacy internship of the University of Navarra.

The lecture, open to the public, reviewed the benefits of breastfeeding, of which Alicia Santamaría emphasized that it is the most natural way to feed the baby: "It incorporates all the nutrients it needs, it is always at the right temperature, it favors the maturation of its defenses and financial aid to establish a very special bond with it".

In the case of opting for infant milk, the specialist recommended analyzing its composition and selecting one that is as similar as possible to mother's milk, "and that incorporates the essential nutritional elements for growth"."A very important technological development is necessary to obtain the composition of breast milk from cow's milk", she continued, "since it differs quite a lot in the composition of nutrients".

Choosing the right milk is even more important because in a newborn baby "most organs and tissues are still developing. From the brain, to the central nervous system, the immune system and its defenses, the visual function, the mineralization of bones and teeth, etc. It is therefore essential to find the infant milk that provides the essential nutrients for the growth and development of these Structures and tissues," he concluded.

Milks 1, 2 and 3
Finally, Alicia Santamaría recalled that milks for healthy infants are divided into three groups: "Milks 1 -for feeding from birth until the introduction of complementary feeding, around the 4th or 6th month-, which are the most similar to breast milk; follow-on milks, or milks 2, which last up to 12 months; and growth milks, or milks 3, for preschoolers between 1 and 3 years old and which represent the transition to traditional cow's milk."

The classroom of Pharmacy internship organizes activities of training directed to students of Pharmacy, of other Schools of the area of sciences and also for professors, researchers and staff of all the campus in the case of some divulgative topics. The next activity will take place next Tuesday 27th. It is a talk on basic concepts of Phytotherapy for students of Pharmacy, Medicine and Nursing. It will be held at 3 p.m. at classroom 4A02.