حليب الثدي
Breast milk is not sterile, but contains as many as 600 different species of various bacteria, including beneficial Bifidobacterium breve, B. adolescentis, B. longum, B. bifidum, and B. dentium, which contribute to colonization of the infant gut. As a result, it can be defined as a probiotic food, depending on how one defines “probiotic”. Breast milk also contains a variety of somatic cells and stem cells and the proportion of each cell type differs from individual to individual. The somatic cells are mainly lactocytes and myoepithelial cells derived from the mother's mammary glands. The stem cells found in human breast milk have been shown to be able to differentiate into a variety of other cells involved in the production of bodily tissues and a small proportion of these cross over the nursing infant's intestinal tract into the bloodstream to reach certain organs and transform into fully functional cells. Because of its diverse population of cells and multifarious functions, researchers have argued that breast milk should be considered a living tissue.