Breastfeeding Helps Prevent Asthma
Nov.
26, 2001 (Ivanhoe Newswire) — A new study finds breastfeeding may have a
protective effect against asthma and wheezing in the first two years of
life.
The relationship
between breastfeeding and asthma has been controversial. Canadian
researchers studied more than 300,000 children and collected information on
how long the mother breastfed and whether or not the child had been
diagnosed with asthma or wheeze. Researchers also accounted for other
factors that could affect the development of asthma including low birth
weight, smoking, low maternal education and sex of the child.
Researchers found
almost half of the children were breastfed for less than two months. About
6 percent of the children developed asthma and 24 percent had wheezing
symptoms. After researchers adjusted for other factors, they found children
who were breastfed for 9 months or less were at a greater risk for
developing asthma or wheeze than those who were breastfed longer. In fact,
the study shows the longer a child is breastfed, the more protection they
have from developing the conditions.
In the study,
researchers write, "To our knowledge, this is the first national
population-based study to support that breastfeeding confers a protective
effect against asthma and wheeze in young children." Researchers say
while the exact cut off point for protection from breastfeeding was not
determined, it is clear in their study that the longer the child is
breastfed, the better. They add strengthening public health efforts to
increase the rates and duration of breastfeeding may help decrease the
cases of asthma and wheeze.
SOURCE: Archives of
Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 2001;155:1261-1265
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