Without soup there is no milk: Andean concepts of food and nutrition in the context of public health breastfeeding recommendations

MONTEBAN M

Washington D.C.

Congreso; Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association; 2014

American Anthropological Association

Infant growth at high altitude is especially stressed due to ecological conditions, such as hypoxia, economic variability, and access to health care. To understand beliefs about maternal diet during breast feeding, I employed semi-structured interviews and free-listing exercises with mothers and public health personnel. Interviews with mothers revealed that maternal diets during breastfeeding are permeated by Andean ethnomedical beliefs. The increased consumption of broths (fluids in soups) during breastfeeding is seen as important to aid in the production of breastmilk. A typical response from mothers was that "without broth there is no milk." The increased consumption of broths runs counter to the recommendations of public health personnel, who promoted less consumption of soups and more consumption of protein and energy dense foods. Although there is low protein consumption among lactating mothers in these communities related to poverty and scarcity of protein food sources, there are diferences in perceptions of what constitutes a meal and at what points throughout the day meals should be consumed. These notions are tied to class and place. Given the overall dominance of biomedicine, it is important to consider the unequal relations involved in following particular breastfeeding recommendations.