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Asthmatic's Breast Milk Linked to Disease in Children

Reuters

LONDON (Feb. 14) - Asthmatic mothers who breast feed their children could be
increasing their risk of developing the disease, U.S. researchers said on
Thursday.

Breast feeding is the best nutrition for infants. It is full of hormones,
enzymes and growth factors and reduces infections, respiratory illness and
diarrhea in babies.

But researchers at the Respiratory Sciences Center in Tucson, Arizona who
studied 1,200 children found that breast feeding may protect them from
wheezing, a symptom of asthma, early in life but it raises their odds of
getting the disease if their mothers have asthma.

''Children with asthmatic mothers were significantly more likely to have
asthma if they had been exclusively breast fed,'' Dr. Anne Wright said in a
report published in the journal Thorax.

The researchers suspect chemicals in the mother's milk affect the child's
immune system and the onset of asthma.

They studied the development of asthma in 1,200 healthy babies who were
followed up at the ages of six, nine, 11 and 13 to see if they developed
asthma.

Mothers were questioned about the disease and the length of time they breast
fed their babies.

Asthma affects the small tubes that carry air in and out of the lungs. Cases
of the disease have risen by more than 50 percent in the developed world in
the last 25 years. Scientists suspect that sterile modern lifestyles are
contributing to the increase. There is no cure for asthma, but drugs can
relieve many of the symptoms.

23:06 02-14-01


Nikki Lee RN, MSN, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CIMI
craniosacral therapy practitioner; childbirth educator
Elkins Park (a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; northeastern USA)
supporting the WHO Code and the Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiative

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