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Breastfeeding Anti-Asthma

Summary: The risk of asthma increased by 28% if exclusive breastfeeding was stopped and other milk was introduced before the baby was 4 months old,

Comment: This has been a good month for breastfeeding. First we learn that breastfeeding reduces the risk of breast cancer. Now we learn that breastfeeding protects the baby from asthma. What next? I'm ready to go back on the breast.

For more, please visit the following MedicineNet.com areas:

• Breastfeeding and Formula Feeding Center
• World Breastfeeding Week – August 1–7
• Asthma Center
• FocusOnAsthma.com, edited by Alan Szeftel, M.D., Asthma and Allergy Center in Santa Monica and Assistant Professor of Medicine at UCLA.
• FocusOnWomensHealth.com, edited by Carolyn Crandall, M.D., Associate Professor in Internal Medicine at the UCLA School of Medicine

Frederick Hecht, MD, FAAP, FACMG
Associate Chief Medical Editor, MedicineNet.com

Moms who breast-feed reduce infants' asthma risk

Last Updated: 2002-07-31 11:58:53 -0400 

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Mothers who breast-feed infants for 4 months or longer may help protect their children from developing asthma, according to a new study conducted in Australia.

In general, breast-feeding is the best nutrition for infants. It is full of beneficial hormones, enzymes and growth factors, and reduces infections, respiratory illness and diarrhea in babies.

However, previous studies of the effects of breast-feeding on infants of asthmatic mothers have been mixed, with some showing decreases in asthma while another reported the opposite.

To investigate, Dr. Wendy H. Oddy, of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Perth, and colleagues evaluated asthma outcomes of more than 2,600 infants that they followed from preterm to age 6 years. Mothers answered questions about their own asthma status and how long they breast-fed, if at all.

The risk of childhood asthma increased by 28% if exclusive breast-feeding was stopped and other milk was introduced before the infant was 4 months old, the authors report in the July issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. This was true regardless of whether the mother had asthma.

"Among many other health benefits, breast-feeding provides protection against infection through defense agents in the milk," Oddy and colleagues write.

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