“The cabbage belongs to the ‘Brassicacae Family’ and contains mustard oil, magnesium, oxalate and sulphur heterosides. Sulphur in amnio acid methionine acts as an antibiotic and anti-irritant, which in turn draws an extra flow of blood to the area. This dilates the capillaries and acts as a counter irritant, thus relieving the engorgement and inflammation and allowing milk to flow freely.”
La Leche League and just about every other breastfeeding group also advocates cabbage for engorgement. No side effects, just relief for mom. Because it is so effective and has been used forever for this purpose it is being studied as a cure for breast cancer, internal use, proven effective in rats. http://carcin.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/11/7/1159
Well I’ll be darned. FReepers never cease to amaze me! Having survived stage three breast cancer, this is doubly interesting to me.