ABSTRACT
Breast milk has been considered as the “gold standard” of infant nutrition in world wide. The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for infants up to six months as the normal infant feeding method. Prolactin is the hormone responsible for the production of milk. Though many women can produce enough milk to meet their infant’s demand, there are mothers who cannot produce sufficient milk for their infants. This is the most common reported reason for early cessation of breastfeeding. To overcome this condition, galactogogue are the medications that could assist in increasing the production of milk, however they posses their own hazards. There are many herbal preparations which help to increase the breast milk secretions and also there are various ethnic groups have their own special foods that are thought to enhance the milk production. This kind of knowledge of galactagogues is passed down from generation to generation. Therefore the aim of this review is to gather such knowledge especially as mentioned in the Unani authentic texts. Further, this article will deal the ancient physiological concept of mudir e laban (galatogogue) in the light of available new information and to appraise the effects of herbs with an objective to update the current knowledge regarding the use of herbal galactogogue in the management of qillat e laban (Insufficient breast milk secretion). From this study it was revealed that the most of the galactogogues mentioned in Unani classical texts have been scientifically proved through in vitro and in vivo studies. Also, efficacy of certain galactogogues has been proved by randomized clinical trials. There are some more galactogogues which mentioned in Unani classical texts which should be proved scientifically vis randomized clinical trial to provide effective, better-quality and safer drugs without distorting the Unani concepts.
Keywords: Galactogogue, qillat e laban, breast milk breast milk.