Question

Insulin being protein is digested in stomach but in small babies antibodies which they get from their mother's milk is not digested.Why is it so ??

Answer 1

Newborn stomach has a more immature digestive function. The 1st week of life it is actually relatively achlorhydric (low production of stomach hydrochloric acid), and stomach pH lowers slowly towards adult levels over the 1st two years of life. Since newborn stomach has less acidic pH, greater proportion of molecules including proteins such as antibodies or sugars and other nutrients in breast milk can pass through intact from the stomach.