Last in a series

"Food values rooted in any culture become 'fact' over the years," observes Beckie Oxley, a Tokyo-based La Leche League breast-feeding consultant.

She recalls one of the first years she sat on a committee sponsored by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to help foreign mothers and fathers who were about to have babies in Japan. "We had a nutritionist who advised the pregnant women in this audience to stay away from sushi. The Japanese who were there were shocked because children here are raised on sushi. Kids eat it all the time. I, too, had gobs of it while I was pregnant.

"While some African-American women will avoid onions while breast-feeding," Oxley goes on, "Australian mothers are cautioned to avoid cabbage, spicy foods, peas, onions, cauliflower and chocolate because these foods are thought to cause colic, gas, diarrhea and rashes in their babies.

"Some hospitals in the U.K. serve Guinness beer in the hours following birth because Guinness contains brewer's yeast, which is rich in B vitamins. Japan's lactating mothers traditionally switched from rice to mochi because mochi is said to be richer in fat, protein and B vitamins."

The conclusion Oxley reached is that opinions where food is concerned vary so widely that a well-informed mother is best equipped to be her own judge.

For 40 years, La Leche League has offered breast-feeding mothers advice and helped many women overcome physical and emotional hurdles as well. In recent years, both the American Pediatric Association and the World Health Organization have issued statements that no baby milk formula comes close to duplicating the nutrition and immune-building qualities in mother's milk -- a view that supports the La Leche League stance.

Breast-feeding may be good and healthy. But is that the end of the discussion?

"Well -- not exactly," says Oxley. "Once you've decided to breast-feed, you are deciding the menu for two. There is a great deal of debate about what constitutes a healthy menu, and nowhere is that more evident than in the divergent nutritional views of different cultures.

"But babies will always have the final word," she notes.

Occasionally, a baby will let a mom know when even mother's milk is falling short. Warning signs from might be as obvious as eczema, allergies or diarrhea, or as elusive as colic.

"Our basic approach to nutrition is to eat a well-balanced and varied diet," says Oxley. "Basically there is nothing that a mother can't eat or needs to watch out for -- if she applies common sense. If the baby fusses after a mother eats something, she can figure out that there's a sensitivity there. But things like caffeine, sugar, chocolates -- they're all culturally based."

Nutritional researcher Daniel Babu, originally from the Caribbean and raised in New York, questions our cultural choices:

"Healthy eating has become something seen as abnormal, even extreme," Babu says. "It is often asked, 'Do you eat regular food or health food?' The truth of the matter is that natural food, or health food, is regular food. To eat food robbed of most of its essential life-building nutrients is not any more normal than putting water into the gas tank of a car and trying to drive it."

In the upcoming edition of the Kai-Igaku Newsletter, Babu reports on his research into preventative medicine, healing and longevity, and often links his findings to the benefits of traditional diets.

"Mothers should eat whole grains, as opposed to polished rice, which has virtually no nutrition," Babu writes. "Almost all the B vitamins are gone. B vitamins are essential for digestion and the nervous system. When you eat polished white rice, the chromium, magnesium, calcium and other minerals are greatly reduced. These are essential minerals which mother and baby need."

Mother's milk contains omega 3 oils, researchers have found, which heighten intelligence, aid the immune system and increase a baby's energy. These oils are especially high in salmon, flax seed and sardines. It's these oils that stimulate the brain, hormonal and immune system to function.

The traditional Japanese diet (washoku) contains a variety of root vegetables and seaweeds. Sotomi Oketani, who pioneered a massage method that is now used in hospitals and private clinics nationwide for increasing milk production and reducing the discomfort produced by clogged ducts, discussed diet in her seminal book, "Bonyu Ikuji (Raising Children With Mother's Milk)."

"Today's diet is high in oils, fat, sugar and caffeine," Oketani wrote. "When a woman gains too much during pregnancy, some symptoms are toxemia, protein in the urine, high blood pressure. These problems can be avoided through elimination of these stimulants and a return to the traditional diet, especially during pregnancy and while they are breast-feeding."

Taneki Mori, a Tokyo pediatrician and author of books spelling out holistic choices for parents, says the bottom line is that mothers ought to eat what they like.

At the same time, he urges nursing mothers to raise their awareness of dioxin contamination.

"The biggest problem for breast-feeding mothers is dioxin, which is retained in a mother's body and enters the baby through her milk," Mori says. Dioxins are unwanted byproducts of many chemical industrial processes and all combustion processes.

To the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency list of foods high in dioxins, Mori adds shellfish and coastal fish such as the omega 3-rich iwashi (sardine). He recommends deep-sea fish such as tuna, caught hundreds of kilometers from the coast, for mother's consumption. To get rid of dioxins, Mori advises fibrous root vegetables, like burdock (gobo), which help break down and eliminate dioxins from the body.

Mori notes that stress can come from attempting to make "healthy" choices with foods that are either unfamiliar or unpalatable to a mother.

"Follow the diet of the culture that is familiar to you," he advises. For foreigners who have lived in Japan for a long time, Japanese food may be second nature. But mothers needn't eat things that they're repulsed by just because somebody tells you it's good for breast milk. It won't help. Eat with joy and pleasure. Avoid too much drinking and smoking. Get enough rest. Lack of sleep makes a lack of milk.

"Be lazy," Mori says.

"Besides food," he adds, "Worry, marital fights and workplace problems are stresses that affect a mother's milk. During the World War II bombing of Japanese cities, many mothers were found to have difficulty producing milk."

To reduce stress, Mori suggests enlisting a husband's full support, especially right after delivery. He proposes that husbands help with the housework and help take care of the baby, so mothers can rest.

Nobuyuki Takeuchi is chief of Akahigedo, an acupuncture and shiatsu clinic that specializes in body and mind medicine. Eastern medicine at Akahigedo integrates traditional remedies based on food and herbs.

In general, Takeuchi advises a mother to follow the traditional Japanese diet: grains, mountain herbs, seaweed and vegetables in season. Other recommended foods are adzuki beans and vegetables like pumpkin, leek and radish, which are nourished from the root. He recommends avoiding sugar, fruits, artificial sweets and cold or iced foods, which, he says, chill the body.

Takeuchi's list of things to avoid includes stimulants such as coffee and cigarettes, drugs and artificial additives and fatty foods; and to this he adds peanuts.

Finally, this Eastern doctor offers some philosophical words of caution that echo Mori's concerns: "If you want to do something good for your body, don't get obsessed, or it won't help much."