Here's what the snip from Medscape said today, accompanied by a lovely
picture of a woman breastfeeding her baby:

"Family Medicine

"Perinatal Factors May Influence Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis Later in Life
"Birth weight, breastfeeding, and paternal occupation appear to influence a
neonate's risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in adulthood,
according to a report published in the May 17th issue of the British Medical
Journal.
Reuters Health Information 2003"

Now, given what you just read ... esp. when it is placed next to a photo of
a BF mom ... you'd think that BF would be the bad guy here, right?  But when
you go to the actual article this is what you read:

"Compared with in-hospital initiation of breastfeeding, delaying such
feeding until after discharge was associated with 90% increase in the risk
of RA, the authors state."  (Babies born at 4000 gm +, with dads who do
manual labor, had increased RA risk, too.)

Sigh.  If *I* was the editor at Medscape, I think my lead sentence would
have read "High birth weight, delayed breastfeeding, and paternal occupation
of manual laborer appear to influence a neonate's risk of developing
rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in adulthood ...."  And I would have been tempted
to place it next to a photo of an infant getting a bottle of formula.


Liz Brooks, JD, IBCLC
Wyndmoor, PA, USA

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