Dr. Katie Hinde, an expert in evolutionary biology and associate professor at Arizona State University, gave an endowed lecture last week on a topic that might seem a bit out-of-place on a college campus: breastfeeding. But Hinde’s wide-ranging talk on the history, science and politics of breastfeeding held the attention of more than 120 students—plus a handful of faculty, staff and community members—for more than an hour.
Hinde’s talk began with an overview of what scientists have learned about human milk over the past several decades, including its role as both food and medicine for human infants.
“We’ve been told that we’ve adequately replicated mothers’ milk with formula or cows’ milk, but really we don’t understand much about mothers’ milk at all,” Hinde said. “But what we do know is amazing.”
She described studies that have shown that the hormones in breastmilk play a role in strengthening the immune systems of infants and training their digestive systems to process the food they will eat after weaning.
Among the most interesting studies Hinde described is one she conducted that demonstrated that the components of human milk vary based on the geography and foodways of the culture in which the mother lives. For example, the various fats, proteins and other nutrients that make up the milk of a mother in urban America are different—in proportion and even in type—from a mother living in a rural community elsewhere in the world.
While Hinde acknowledged that there are situations where breastfeeding is impossible or contraindicated—adoption, mother’s illness, non-traditional families—her talk was an unapologetic plea for greater support for mothers who wish to breastfeed their infants.
“I’m not saying that every baby needs breastmilk or every mother needs to breastfeed. But we need to do more to improve all the options and support the mothers who do,” she said, citing a statistic that 60% of new mothers in the United States are not able to breastfeed for as long as they had hoped to.
Among the supports that Hinde suggested were paid parental leave, peer lactation consultants and additional scientific research to better understand the risks of taking certain medications while breastfeeding.
Hinde’s talk also touched on the history of breastfeeding in the United States and its falling and rising popularity over the past century. While breastfeeding reached an all-time low in the 1970s—when as few as 22% of new mothers breastfed for any amount of time—Hinde was pleased to report that it has been on the rise over the past 30 years.
Hinde’s talk also drew a connection between breastfeeding and social justice issues. She described how many mothers and babies are likely to be displaced from their homes due to rising sea levels and natural disasters brought about by climate change.
“Mothers may not be able to find formula during a natural disaster,” she said. “Breastfeeding allows mothers to feed their babies” in those situations.
Hinde’s talk also drew a connection between breastfeeding and public health, and the importance of supporting the benefits of breastfeeding by also vaccinating babies.
Hinde has a B.A. in anthropology from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. in anthropology from UCLA. In addition to dozens of peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, Hinde co-edited Building Babies: Primate Developmental Trajectories in Proximate and Ultimate Perspective (Springer, 2013). Her endowed lecture was sponsored by the Anna B. Mow Symposium on Comparative Religious Ethics.
– Heather Cole
10/31/25
