We were interested to read the observations of Cole and Hargreaves (1972) on Conjugation Inhibitors and Early Neonatal Hyperbilirubinaemia. We, also, were unable to find a correlation between the serum bilirubin concentration in breastfed, 6-day-old infants and conjugation inhibitors in the mother 's milk (Arthur, Bevan, and Holton, 1966). However, it would be wrong to conclude that breast feeding is not a factor determining early neonatal bilirubin levels. Our studies and those of Stiehm and Ryan (1965) have suggested that breastfed infants tend to have higher serum bilirubins and an increased incidence of clinical jaundice. It may be that conjugation inhibitors play no part in this, or it is possible that milk inhibitor levels, measured with an adult rat liver slice system, are not altogether relevant to the situation in the human new- born infant's liver.
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Doershuck et al. (1972) studied this question.