> "Acute nicotine administration stimulates prolactin release (Wilkins et
> al., 1982; Rasmussen, 1995). However, serum prolactin levels are
> significantly lower in both male and female chronic smokers who smoke more
> than 10 cigarettes per day (Andersen et al., 1984). This apparent
> discrepancy could be explained by a similar mechanism to that with ACTH
> (Fuxe et al., 1989)."
I'm not sure if this comment was in reference to something earlier, but I
have written a review of smoking and breastfeeding which is pretty critical
of most of the research on this topic.
Lisa Amir
MBBS, MMed, IBCLC in Melbourne, Australia
Early Hum Dev. 2001 Aug;64(1):45-67.
Maternal smoking and reduced duration of breastfeeding: a review of possible
mechanisms.
Amir LH.
Centre for the Study of Mothers' and Children's Health, LaTrobe University,
251 Faraday St., 3053, Carlton, Australia. [log in to unmask]
AIM: To systematically review the possible mechanisms by which maternal
smoking affects lactation. METHODS: Databases (Medline, CINAHL, Current
Contents, Psychinfo, Sociological Abstracts and the Cochrane Library) were
searched for smoking and breastfeeding or infant feeding. The Journal of
Human Lactation and Birth were hand-searched, searches were also conducted
at NMAA's Lactation Resource Centre and references cited were located where
appropriate. Articles were divided into the various ways that smoking could
affect breastfeeding and were tabulated. RESULTS: Most studies were
conducted on small samples of animals or humans; the majority were prior to
1985. Most animal studies exposed the animals to much greater levels of
nicotine than those to which humans are exposed. Most studies did not
examine if breastfeeding behaviour was similar in smokers and non-smokers,
and did not consider that any physiological difference found could be the
result of poor lactation practices, rather than the cause of poor lactation
in smokers. The definition of breastfeeding infants was also problematic in
many studies. The effect of smoking on oxytocin in women was only examined
in one study, and no effect was found, yet a negative effect of smoking on
oxytocin release is reported in the breastfeeding literature. CONCLUSION:
Although there is consistent evidence that women who smoke breastfeed their
infants for a shorter duration than non-smokers, the evidence for a
physiological mechanism is not strong.
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