http://gastroenterology.medscape.com/reuters/prof/2000/09/09.28/20000927publ004.html
Last Updated: 2000-09-27 18:59:48 EDT (Reuters
Health)[PUBL] - PAHO Supports Infant Nutrition
Proposal That May Affect International Trade
By Chris Gearon
WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) Sept 28 - In a resolution aimed at
preventing
malnutrition and lowering infant mortality rates in developing nations,
health
ministers of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) on Tuesday
supported a resolution that encourages mothers to exclusively
breast-feed their
infants until 6 months of age.
The controversial proposal debated by the 42nd Directing Council of PAHO
now
advances to the World Health Organization (WHO) executive board, which
meets
next January. If adopted by WHO, the recommendation could have
repercussions
for international trade, according to PAHO.
"The reason the issue has become so polarized is commercial," Dr. Chessa
Lutter,
director of food and nutrition for the organization, told Reuters
Health.
"The recommendation influences, or has the potential to influence,
infant feeding
policy and programs, maternity legislation, and the monitoring of the
Code of
Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, and Codex Alimentarius, which
governs the
content and labeling of cereal-based infant foods and is especially
significant with
respect to international trade," a PAHO background paper states.
Research demonstrates that women in developing nations who exclusively
breast-feed see beneficial health results in their children and in
themselves, Dr.
Lutter told Reuters Health. However, data are not as clearcut that
mothers in
developed nations who exclusively breast-feed for 6 months get the same
benefits
as mothers and children in poorer nations, she added. Better and safer
food
preparation methods in developed nations reduce the risks of illnesses,
for
example.
A case-control study in Brazil showed that infants younger than 2-months
who
were not exclusively breast-fed were 23 times more likely to die than
infants who
were breastfed, according to the PAHO background paper. A study in the
Philippines of nearly 10,000 infants showed that during their initial 6
months of
life, babies who did not breast-feed or who ceased breast-feeding had a
10-fold
increase in diarrheal mortality.
While the US government has not endorsed a exclusive breast-feeding time
frame,
the Department of Health and Human Services expects to release a
"Blueprint for
Action," aimed at promoting breast-feeding, Mary Lou Valdez, associate
director
for multilateral affairs in the HHS Office of International and Refugee
Health, told
the PAHO meeting in Washington.
While she added that infants should "ideally" be breast-fed exclusively
for the
first 6 months of life and should continue to be breast-fed, along with
complementary foods, through their first year of life, she told Reuters
Health that
HHS will not recommend that guideline in its forthcoming report. Yet the
American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 6 months of exclusive
breast-feeding.
The debate over the duration of exclusive breast-feeding has ignited so
much
debate in recent months that PAHO Director Dr. George A. O. Alleyne told
attending health ministers, "This is an issue that has generated much
heat...but
we've lost sight of the purpose."
***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|
