If this is not your name, click here.
| | If this is not your name, click here. | | |
| | Contact Us | Order Now | Journals | Bookstore | Register a colleague | | |
| |  ALA/ATS MEETING: Breastfeeding Linked To Lower Risk Of Asthma SAN DIEGO, CA -- April 27, 1999 -- Children who are exclusively breastfed for at least the first four months of life have a substantial reduction in the risk of developing asthma by age six, suggests a study presented at the American Lung Association/American Thoracic Society International Conference. The study of 2,834 Australian children found that the introduction of milk other than breast milk before four months of age was a significant risk factor for asthma in children. The research uncovered the following results about children who were not breastfed exclusively: --they were 27 percent more likely to have doctor-diagnosed asthma by age six than children who were exclusively breastfed for the first four months of life; 44 percent more likely to wheeze three or more times since the age of 1; --they were 41 percent more likely to have wheezed in the last 12 months; --74 percent more likely to have sleep disturbance due to wheeze within the last 12 months. The research was carried out by Wendy Oddy MPH, in work for her Ph.D at the TVW Telethon Institute for Child Health in West Perth, Western Australia. Dr. Oddy noted that asthma is the leading cause of hospitalization in American and Australian children, and the prevalence of asthma is increasing in both countries. In Australia, while nearly 90 percent of babies are breastfed when they leave the hospital, by age three months half are no longer exclusively breastfeeding. In the United States, even fewer three-month-olds are exclusively breastfed, she said. She echoed the World Health Organization recommendation that, if possible, mothers should exclusively breastfeed for at least the first four to six months of a baby’s life. "The findings of this study are important for the prevention of asthma in children," Oddy said. There are several possible reasons for the findings, she noted. "In the past year or two, breast milk has been shown to be a bioactive, live fluid filled with proteins and lipids so essential for developing infants," she said. "Babies need as much help as they can get in developing their immune system and organs. Their mother’s milk gives them the very best protective immunological factors, which are difficult to include in formula," she added. Dr. Oddy said that breast milk transmits immunity from the mother to baby, and can lead to enhanced tolerance to infection, which increase chances of an infant’s survival. "Because asthma is a disease of inflammation, these processes occurring very early in life may affect an individual’s health well into childhood and beyond," she said. "My research has shown that this is occurring, with protection against asthma and allergy from exclusive breastfeeding (and no introduction of other formula or milk) extending into childhood."
|
