Hi everyone,

I'm following the discussions about the findings of the Colorado
study on timing of introduction of solid foods and the risk of Type 1
diabetes with some interest.  Did we talk about this last year some time?

I can't get hold of the full-text, but there are several aspects to
even the abstract (see
<http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1707785>http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1707785
) which make me uneasy.

Firstly, the researchers defined early exposure to solids as being
before 4 months of age.  And late as over 6 months.  But they defined
"normal" as between 4 and 5 months. 4-5 months is still too early in
our recommendations, right?  So comparison of too-early introduction
of solids with too-early introduction of solids would tell us little.

Secondly, the researchers talk about "breastfeeding", without
defining whether it is partial, any, a bit, or exclusive.  I'd want
much more precise wording before I'd take these results as gospel.

Lastly, apparently complicated vaginal delivery was also a predictor
of T1DM.  Now why should that be?  Because these babies are probably
unlikely to have been exclusively breastfed from birth, meaning they
were also introduced to foreign proteins way too early.

It just doesn't make sense to me that introducing unphysiologic foods
and liquids to the immature infant gut between 4 - 5 months of age
could be protective against a pretty severe and inconvenient
life-long medical condition that we know can also be caused by
too-early exposure to cow's milk proteins, counter to the WHO
recommendations about the value of maintaining exclusive
breastfeeding for the first full 6 months.

Whenever the results of a study are "off", I usually find it's
because either the funding or the definitions are a bit suspect.

Pamela Morrison IBCLC
Rustington, England


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