Breast Milk Enhancing Supplement Literature Study, Prototype Samples Development, and Active GalactogogueCompounds Testing

Abstract

Breast milk is considered the best food for infants as it has been shown to provide immunological factors and increase the intelligence development of infants compared to formula milk. However, many factors affect breast milk production, particularly the hormonal activity and nutritional status of the mothers. Nutritional status is essential since foods consumed by the mothers will indirectly influence the quality (e.g., color and viscosity) and quantity (volume) of breast milk produced. Besides dietary factors, hormones, particularly prolactin hormone, also greatly influence breast milk production by improving glucose metabolism for lactose synthesis; thus, ensuring the continuity of breast milk secretion. One of the most common challenges faced by nursing mothers is insufficient breast milk production caused by low prolactin secretion. In this case, the utilization of natural galactagogues (i.e., foods, herbal supplements, or pharmacological agents that may support lactation) can be developed as one strategy to overcome low breast milk production. In Indonesia, moringa leaves, torbangun leaves, soybeans, and sunflower lecithin are food ingredients widely incorporated into various breast-milk enhancing products due to their galactagogue effects contributed by the presence of the active galactagogue compounds of alkaloids, flavonoids, phytoestrogen (genistein) as well as phytosterols (e.g., β-sitosterol). Therefore, this project aims to develop the prototype (early samples) of breast milk enhancing supplement using moringa leaves, torbangun leaves, soybeans, and sunflower lecithin in the form of dried powder (simplicia) as well as to predict the effectiveness of the sample prototypes through qualitative and quantitative phytochemicals screening for the presence of the active galactagogue compounds.