(not really breastfeeding, sorry)
I don't remember the original discussion but I know that a few days ago
someone commented that some surgeons considered a woman's menstrual cycle
when scheduling surgery due to differing effects on the various soft-tissue
supports of the pelvic floor.  (hope I'm remembering this right; it wasn't a
post that I thought I'd need to refer to!)

Today's Washington Post (page A1, Sunday March 29, www.washingtonpost.com)
has an article entitled "For Female Athletes, Knee Injuries Abound."  It's
about the substantially higher rate of, in particular, anterior cruciate
ligament tears in female basketball players.  An excerpt:

"Many other researchers...  are looking at whether hormonal changes through
the course of a woman's menstrual cycle might weaken the ACL or make it more
elastic...  At the University of Michigan and UCLA, researchers have found
higher than expected rates of ACL injury shortly before menstruation, when
estrogen levels spike.  At UCLA, the tissue of the ACL has been found to
have receptors that react to estrogen." [article went on to say their work
has not been published yet.]

Again, I know it isn't breastfeeding but thought this was interesting in the
context of the mention on Lactnet a few days ago.

(If you're interested in more weird science, check out Thursday's Washington
post for an article about how El Nino has lengthened the day by as much as
.9 milliseconds.)

Back to lurking!

Mary Renard

***posting for myself, not my employer***

Mary Riley Renard, RN, BSN, IBCLC
CERP/Recertification Coordinator
International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners
P O Box 2348
Falls Church VA  22042-0348  USA
Tele 703-560-7330
Fax  703-560-7332
email <[log in to unmask]>