>The reference is from Cunningham AS, Derrick B, Jelliffe DB,Jellife >EFP.
>Breastfeeding and health in the 1980s:  A global epidemiologic >review from
>the Journal of Pediatrics, volume 118, number 5, May 1991.

>Cunningham et al, states: "In Sheffield, England, breast-feeding was >the
>single most important factor in a prevention program that reduced >the
>postperinatal mortality rate from 5.2 to 1.9 per 1000;  the >emphasis on
>breast-feeding accounted for an estimated 24% of the >reduction in the
>mortality rate."[study reported in 1983]

Help me figure this out.  The postperinatal mortality rate was 5.2 per 1000,
and after the program, it was down to 1.9 per 1000.  That means 5.2-1.9 =
3.3 children per 1000 who lived that previously would have died.  They
estimated that the breastfeeding accounted for 24% of the reduction.  .24 X
3.3 = .792 children.

As far as I can figure out, that means formula feeding accounts for *not
even 1 more death* per 1000 children.  This is hardly the 4 deaths per 1000
children often cited.

I don't have my files handy (they're still in Texas), but I would swear that
when I heard Allan Cunningham talk at a conference, maybe, 1996, he said for
every 1000 DEATHS, 4 could be attributed directly to formula (lack of
breastfeeding).  Since the Cunningham et al. 1991 quote doesn't say 4 deaths
for every 1000 children -- perhaps this is not the source of this statistic
after all.  Even if you ignored the part about breastfeeding accounting for
only one fourth of the reduction, the entire reduction was only 3.3 deaths
per 1000 children, not 4.

I think there must be some other source of the 4 deaths per 1000 children.
Let's keep looking.

Kathy Dettwyler






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