Breastfeeding Helps Prevent Asthma

Nov. 26, 2001 (Ivanhoe Newswire) — A new study finds breastfeeding may have a protective effect against asthma and wheezing in the first two years of life.

The relationship between breastfeeding and asthma has been controversial. Canadian researchers studied more than 300,000 children and collected information on how long the mother breastfed and whether or not the child had been diagnosed with asthma or wheeze. Researchers also accounted for other factors that could affect the development of asthma including low birth weight, smoking, low maternal education and sex of the child.

Researchers found almost half of the children were breastfed for less than two months. About 6 percent of the children developed asthma and 24 percent had wheezing symptoms. After researchers adjusted for other factors, they found children who were breastfed for 9 months or less were at a greater risk for developing asthma or wheeze than those who were breastfed longer. In fact, the study shows the longer a child is breastfed, the more protection they have from developing the conditions.

In the study, researchers write, "To our knowledge, this is the first national population-based study to support that breastfeeding confers a protective effect against asthma and wheeze in young children." Researchers say while the exact cut off point for protection from breastfeeding was not determined, it is clear in their study that the longer the child is breastfed, the better. They add strengthening public health efforts to increase the rates and duration of breastfeeding may help decrease the cases of asthma and wheeze.

SOURCE: Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 2001;155:1261-1265

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