Cortisol concentrations in milk predict temperament in offspring!

There is some tremendously exciting work being done lately on programming elements of milk: early life influences on milk composition, effects of milk composition on development, etc. Here's yet another fascinating study, co-authored by BANDIT members Erin Sullivan and Katie Hinde along with Sally Mendoza and John Capitanio, all of the University of California at Davis: Cortisol concentrations in the milk of rhesus monkey mothers are associated with confident temperament in sons, but not daughters

Abstract
One pathway by which infant mammals gain information about their environment is through ingestion of milk. We assessed the relationship between stress-induced cortisol concentrations in milk, maternal and offspring plasma, and offspring temperament in rhesus monkeys. Milk was collected from mothers after a brief separation from their infants at 3–4 months postpartum, and blood was drawn at this time for both mothers and infants. Offspring temperament was measured at the end of a 25-hr assessment. Cortisol concentrations in milk were in a range comparable to those found in saliva, and were positively correlated with maternal plasma levels. Mothers of males had higher cortisol concentrations in milk than did mothers of females, and cortisol concentrations in maternal milk were related to a Confident temperament factor in sons, but not daughters. This study provides the first evidence that naturally occurring variation in endogenous glucocorticoid concentrations in milk are associated with infant temperament.

Dr. Erin Riley's new paper in Evolutionary Anthropology

A woman who invokes Alfred Russell Wallace AND uses an awesome word like "depauperate" in her abstract has a mind to be reckoned with. Plus, I always covet her earrings (your miles may vary). Erin is an assistant professor of Anthropology at San Diego State University.

The Endemic Seven: Four Decades of Research on the Sulawesi Macaques

BANDIT member Dr. Katie Hinde in American Journal of Primatology

Dr. Katie Hinde, currently a postdoc at the California National Primate Research Center and the University of California Davis has a paper out in AJP today. In addition to her impressive moves on the dance floor, Katie is doing some fabulous work on the role of lactation and milk composition in intergenerational programming of temperament in macaques. She's that cool.