The Council endorsed the work of Lewis and Carlson and held that the claimed galactagogue effects of Nutrolactis and goat’s rue are not substantiated.
W. A. Puckner, Secretary.
THE ALLEGED GALACTAGOGUE ACTION OF GALEGA AND NUTROLACTIS [E][F]
Marian Lewis, Sc.M., and A. J. Carlson, Ph.D.
CHICAGO
It is well established that the food best adapted to the energy and growth requirements of the infant is normal mother’s milk. Any decrease in quantity or deterioration in quality of the maternal secretion is soon followed by a parallel impairment of growth, loss of weight, or lowered resistance to infection in the infant. The widespread occurrence of deficient milk secretion is a matter of common knowledge. The discovery of true lactagogues, or specific substances which increase the quantity and quality of the milk on being administered to nursing mothers, would therefore be of very great importance. In view of this great medical and economic interest in true lactagogues it is not surprising to find that the medical and biologic literature records discoveries of lactagogues based on hope rather than demonstration, and that spurious lactagogues are on the market.
Some of the factors known to affect milk secretion are general health, food supply, psychic state, and heredity. The mechanism of secretion and the method by which these factors affect it are imperfectly understood. In general it has been observed that milk yield improves both in quantity and in quality with improvement in general health, better food supply, and more favorable psychic state. The influence of heredity is taken advantage of by dairymen who are well acquainted with the potential milk production of the different breeds of cattle.
Among the substances which have been reported to stimulate milk secretion may be mentioned the extract of the posterior lobe of the hypophysis. But pituitary extract is not a true lactagogue, because its action is confined to the smooth musculature of the gland ducts, causing a more or less complete ejection of the milk already formed; it has no effect on the gland cells or the actual secretory process in the direction of increasing the milk yield. Extracts of thymus, corpus luteum, ovaries, uterus, placenta, fetus, and the mammary gland itself have also been reported to have a temporary stimulating effect on the quantity of milk secreted, but when these extracts are given by mouth they are apparently without specific influence on the mammary gland.
Galega, or goat’s rue (Galega officinalis), is an herb described in the National Formulary as being slightly bitter and astringent. In 1873, Gillet-Damotti,[112] in a communication to the French Academy, stated that this plant when fed to cows increases the secretion of milk from 35 to 50 per cent. Other French writers have affirmed that goat’s rue is a lactagogue. In Germany, Fragner[113] made a preparation called Galegal, using galega as the active principle and combining it with lactose to give it a pleasant taste and make it soluble in water, milk, coffee, and tea. This preparation was reported on favorably by Scherer,[114] who asserts that he obtained positive results in fifty-four of the eighty cases in which he used it.