Here are some thoughts from Ted Greiner, PhD, Nutritionist, Unit for
International Child Health, Uppsala University, Sweden--passed along with
his permission:

The asthma rate is high and increasing in Sweden. But we may be missing the
point by only talking about breastfeeding as if it is a magic substance
that can achieve magic things just by being there in the child's diet. It
may require exclusive breastfeeding and even some restrictions of the
mother's diet like little or no cow's milk. I do think breastfeeding is
likely involved in many cases of asthma but there are probably many other
things going on too.
---
Sorry, I would have worded that more diplomatically if I'd known it was
going to be forwarded to you! I do believe breastfeeding plays a role and
am surprised its increase seems not to have much affect here, since at
least many women seem to come quite close to doing it exclusively. That's
why I wrote that there must be much more involved. Still, for kids who get
little or no breast milk or much else besides from an early age I imagine
there is a good chance that they are more likely to get it or get it
earlier in life or get it worse than they would otherwise. These kinds of
things are difficult to study scientifically though.

I had said:

But I do think bfing might be a place to start looking. The researchers
seem puzzled as to what has changed in the past several decades. It seems
this might be a place to start looking. And I find it shocking that most
people haven't even considered it as a possiblity worth exploring in depth.

He responded:

I often find myself shocked in this kind of way. For example, if there were
any respect for exclusive breastfeeding, there would already be a study
comparing the transmission of HIV in exclusively breastfed versus the usual
predominent or partially breast fed infants. Almost certainly the
transmission rate would be lower. Then all the moaning and groaning about
HIV and breastfeeding would be transformed into the realization that them
main policy implication is to encourage and enable exclusive breastfeeding
(which places much greater demands on society to give women the support
they need), since in most countries with high levels the vast majority of
affected women will not know it until it is very far gone.
-End of Ted's comments-

Janice, mom of Zack (11/30/92) and Gina (9/4/96) and home-based Editorial
Consultant
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http://www.netexp.net/~bpaganin