We now have a new explanation as to why newborn infants look that blissful while resting in their mother’s arms after ingesting their milk.
We now know for a fact that breast milk contains endo-cannabinoids which are necessary for the child’s growth. There a studies to prove it right there (here), but don’t rush right away to your mothers for another hit.
Young mothers, listen to us. Even though you don’t smoke or have never smoked a single joint in your life, your body will still, in its own way and without your consent, produce endo-cannabinoids (which are cannabinoids, but produced by your own body). Does that make sense? This very fact does not reduce you to a cannabis plantation, but relies on human’s genetic mystery, which keeps being quite surprising. Humans are born with cannabinoid receptors (which are called CB1 and CB2), and your endo-canabinoids have a great influence on ante- and post-natal development. The first endo-cannabinoids show up after the 14th week of pregnancy (je ne crois pas que ca soit possible d’être en gestation dans le ventre de la mère, parce que la gestation désigne l’état d’être enceinte, non du foetus qui se développe). During the critical phase when the newborn takes in the essential milk, your child’s CB1 receptors will be activated for the first time. The key thing here, is that those receptors allow the child to know if they’re still hungry. We could call that early munchies: the baby will cry to ask for more food. Therefore, a satiation rhythm will set itself naturally, allowing the kid’s body to know when it needs to be fed and consequently when to ask for food.
Nature is doing such a good job that the cannabinoids role goes far beyond the benefits previously mentioned. Starting from the 20th week of pregnancy (when the concentration of cannabinoids is at its highest), a cannabinoid by-product appears in the body : anandamide. Its role is to take care of the immune system by making natural pain-killers, anti-inflammatories, etc.
This goes to show that, even if we’re not all smoking the same plant, we are still cut from the same cloth.
Jacob
