🧑‍⚕️ Healthcare and nutrition jobs

Healthcare and nutrition jobs are the jobs where milk meets human health: feeding children and adults, breastfeeding support and diets. Milk is closely tied to medicine and care. Neonatologists, pediatricians, midwives and lactation consultants help mothers establish feeding: the WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months and continued breastfeeding up to two years and beyond. Donor milk banks collect and process breast milk for premature and sick babies.

Dietitians and nutritionists plan diets for lactose intolerance, cow’s milk protein allergy and other conditions. It is important to tell these apart: lactose intolerance is due to a shortage of the enzyme lactase, while allergy is an immune reaction to proteins. According to the FAO, lactase activity declines in adulthood in about 70% of people worldwide, although for many of them it causes no serious symptoms.

Allergists help choose milk substitutes: for example, the World Allergy Organization advises against using goat’s milk as a substitute for cow’s milk in children with allergy because of cross-reactions. Food hygiene specialists and epidemiologists monitor milk safety and investigate outbreaks of infection linked to raw milk.