I've found another email on lactnet, in 1998 about a study that showed a strong
protectvie effect. It is a post from Fiona Coombes <[log in to unmask]>
posted Fri, 24 Jul 1998 07:55:11 +0800
The Finnish study also shows a protective effect.
It would be worth to look closely at all those studies and try to find out what
made these differences in outcome. Eg in Finland supplementation in the first days
after birth is often done routineously with donor milk (has been told me by
Finnish mothers).
One thing should be kept in mind: the asthma rates are increasing rapidly. Eg the
astma rates in East Germany were lower than in West Germany before the Wall felt
down. After that the rates in East Germany were catching up rapidly. (I've no
reference for this, but I've heard this a couple of times. Eg there is a study
comparizing Muchen and Leipzig).
Since parents who tend to do 'perfect' seem to have higher risks on their babies
getting allergies, it migth be possible that parents enrollled in the study, were
also trying to be even more perfect and so speeding up the already increase in
astma rates in this research group.
I think that the 'general' rule that the positive effects of breastfeeding are
dose-dependent, might no apply in allergy cases, like it doesn't in HIV. Wrigth
showed before that IgE in the blood of babies from allergic mothers is higher (1),
and now she migth show an effect of this in this new study(2). Maybe the antigenes
from the mother does enter the baby's system as soon as the gut of the baby is
affected, eg caused by supplemenatation, or by allergic colitis.
I'm interested in what Maureen Minchin says about this.
(1). J Allergy Clin Immunol 1999 Sep;104(3 Pt 1):589-594
Breast-feeding, maternal IgE, and total serum IgE in childhood.
Wright AL, Sherrill D, Holberg CJ, Halonen M, Martinez FD
Respiratory Sciences Center, Arizona Health Sciences Center, the Department of
Pediatrics and Steele Memorial Children's Research Center, the Arizona
Prevention Center, and the Department of Pharmacology, University of Arizona.
[Record supplied by publisher]
BACKGROUND: There is controversy regarding the relationship of the effect of
breast-feeding on markers of allergy such as total serum IgE in childhood.
OBJECTIVE: This study, using longitudinal data, tested the hypothesis that the
relation of breast-feeding to IgE in childhood differs depending on maternal
total IgE level. METHODS: Total serum IgE was assessed with the paper
radioimmunosorbent test at 4 ages in nonselected children enrolled at birth into
the prospective Tucson Children's Respiratory Study. Children were classified as
never breast-fed, breast-fed less than 4 months, or breast-fed 4 months or
longer, on the basis of physician report or questionnaires completed by parents
by the time the child was 18 months old. A longitudinal random effects model was
used to test for group differences and temporal trends in IgE for children
classified with reference to maternal IgE (high tertile vs all others) and
breast-feeding history. A total of 664 children with 1457 observations were
included. RESULTS: Among children whose mothers were in the 2 lower tertiles of
IgE, breast-feeding was associated with lower total serum IgE at age 6 years
(24.2 vs 44.3 IU/mL for never breast-fed children; P <.02); similar trends
existed at age 11 years. In contrast, for children whose mothers were in the
highest tertile of IgE, breast-feeding of 4 months or longer was associated with
higher IgE levels in the child compared with those never breast-fed or
breast-fed less than 4 months (97.0 vs 38.9 IU/mL; P <.005). These
cross-sectional analyses were confirmed with the longitudinal random effects
model, which also showed no effect of confounders. Paternal IgE showed no
similar relation with child IgE. CONCLUSION: Breast-feeding appears to have
paradoxic relations with IgE in childhood, depending on maternal IgE level.
These findings may help explain the contradictory results found in other
investigations of the relation of breast-feeding to allergic symptoms and
markers.
(2) : Adv Exp Med Biol 2000;478:131-7
Material asthma status alters relation of infant feeding to asthma childhood
Wright AL, Holberg CJ, Taussig LM, Martinez F
Respiratory Sciences Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA.
[Record supplied by publisher]
The relation of infant feeding to childhood asthma is controversial. This
study tested the hypothesis that maternal asthma alters the relation of
breastfeeding to childhood asthma. Questionnaires were completed at age 6, 9
or 11 years by parents of 1043 children enrolled at birth. Active MD asthma
was defined as a physician diagnosis of asthma plus asthma symptoms reported
on one of the questionnaires. Duration of exclusive breastfeeding,
categorized as never, < 4 months, or > or = 4 months, was based on
prospective physician reports or questionnaires completed at 18 months. The
relationship between breastfeeding and asthma differed by maternal asthma
status. For children with maternal asthma, the percent developing active MD
asthma increased significantly with longer duration of exclusive
breastfeeding. Odds of developing asthma among these children were
significantly elevated (OR: 5.7,CI: 2.8-11.5), after adjusting for
confounders. This association of longer exclusive breastfeeding with
increased risk of reported asthma among children with asthmatic mothers may
be biologically based, or may reflect reporting biases.
regards, Annelies Bon
Lay counsellor of the Dutch bf organization "Borstvoeding Natuurlijk"
Breastfeeding postcards: http://www.borstvoeding.com/shop/english.html
Ordering from US: http://www.attachmentscatalog.com/gifts/notecards.html
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