Garlic ingestion by pregnant women alters the odor of amniotic fluid.

Amniotic fluid samples were obtained from 10 pregnant women undergoing routine amniocentesis procedure. Approximately 45 min prior to the procedure, five of the women ingested placebo capsules, whereas the remaining five ingested capsules containing the essential oil of garlic. Randomly selected pairs of samples, one from a woman who ingested garlic and the other from a woman who ingested placebo capsules, were then evaluated by a sensory panel of adults. The odor of the amniotic fluid obtained from four of the five women who had ingested the garlic capsules was judged to be stronger or more like garlic than the paired samples collected from the women consuming placebo capsules. Thus, garlic ingestion by pregnant women significantly alters the odor of their amniotic fluid.

The effects of repeated exposure to garlic-flavored milk on the nursling's behavior.

The present study investigated whether prior consumption of garlic by nursing mothers modifies their infant's behaviors during breast-feeding when the mothers again consume garlic. Three groups of mother-infant dyads were studied. The groups differed in the type (placebo or garlic) or the timing (d 5-7 or 8-10) of capsule ingestion by the mothers and, consequently, in the amount and recency of exposure their infants had to garlic-flavored milk during an 11-d experimental period. Each mother-infant pair was observed during two 4-h test sessions. The first session occurred at the beginning of the experimental period, when the mothers ingested placebo capsules (d 4); the second occurred at the end of the experimental period, when they ingested garlic capsules (d 11). During test sessions, the infants fed on demand and were weighed before and after each breast-feeding to determine the amount of milk ingested, and their behaviors during breast-feeding were monitored by videotape. The results demonstrated an effect of prior experience with garlic in mother's milk. The infants who had no exposure to garlic volatiles in their mothers' milk during the experimental period spent significantly more time breast-feeding after their mothers ingested garlic capsules compared with those infants whose mothers repeatedly consumed garlic during the experimental period. Moreover, the former group of infants spent significantly more time attached to their mothers' breasts during the 4-h test session in which their mothers ingested the garlic compared with the session in which she ingested the placebo.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Maternal diet alters the sensory qualities of human milk and the nursling's behavior.

Although the majority of human infants are breast-fed for the first few months of life, there is a paucity of information regarding the sensory qualities of human milk and how these qualities are affected by maternal diet. The present study investigated the effects of garlic ingestion by the mother on the odor of her breast milk and the suckling behavior of her infant. Evaluation of the milk samples by a sensory panel revealed garlic ingestion significantly and consistently increased the perceived intensity of the milk odor; this increase in odor intensity was not apparent 1 hour after ingestion, peaked in strength 2 hours after ingestion, and decreased thereafter. That the nursling detected these changes in mother's milk is suggested by the finding that infants were attached to the breast for longer periods of time and sucked more when the milk smelled like garlic. There was a tendency for infants to ingest more milk as well; the lack of a significant effect may be due to the inherent limitations on the total amount of milk available to the infant.