Breast-feeding may reduce infant ear infection risk
Source: Pediatrics 2006; 118: 2273-9
Studying the impact of carriage of proinflammatory cytokine genes and
breast-feeding on susceptibility to recurrent otitis media in childhood.
Infants who are breastfed may have a reduced risk of middle ear
infections because their immune systems are more effective than those of
other children, scientists state.
It has long been known that genetics plays a role in vulnerability to a
middle ear infection called otitis media. However, very few studies have
attempted to pinpoint the complex relationship between genes that
predispose their carriers to the condition and environmental factors
such as breast-feeding, the investigators comment.
Janek Patel, from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston,
USA, and colleagues examined genetic samples from 505 children, 59
percent of whom were defined as susceptible to otitis media. 
They found that infants who carried polymorphisms of the genes tumor
necrosis factor-α-308 and interleukin-6-174 had an increased risk for
childhood ear infections compared with other children. Patel and
colleagues suggest that this may be because of reduced immune
effectiveness. 
Of note, the team discovered that this effect could be counteracted with
breast-feeding, as children who were breastfed for less than 1 month
also had an increased risk for otitis media infection. 
"This is a major finding, that breast-feeding neutralized the effect
even in kids who had all the genetic polymorphisms," Patel said. "Not
only that, they were protected from recurrent infections even later in
childhood, long after they stopped breast-feeding."
Posted: 12 December 2006
© 2006 Current Medicine Group Ltd, a part of Springer Science+Business
Media
 
Esther G
 

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