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Breastfeeding reduces risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis
By navtej-kohli | May 15, 2008
Navtej Kohli medical blog brings the recent breakthroughs in Medical world. Navtej Kohli brings a good news for lactating mothers.
A recent study revealed that women who breast feed for a longer period of time are less likely to get rheumatoid arthritis.
Over the past three decades, the fraction of women breastfeeding for more than six months has increased to a large extent. This study examined the effects of breast feeding, administration of oral contraceptives, and having children (but not breast feeding) on rheumatoid arthritis. The researchers took 136 women with rheumatoid arthritis and 544 women without the disease for the study.
Only those women who breastfed their children for extended periods of time experienced low rheumatoid arthritis, the findings revealed. Those who breastfed longer were more likely to decrease arthritis risk. In comparison to the group that never participated in breastfeeding, women who had breastfed for one to 12 months had only three-quarters the chance of getting the disease. Women who had breastfed for 13 months or more had half the chance of getting rheumatoid arthritis as those who had never breastfed.
Notably, this relationship was not found with the use of oral contraceptives, which mimic the hormonal effects of pregnancy.
The researchers concluded that there was some difficulty in drawing a direct connection between the higher rates of breast feeding and the correlating drop in the number of women affected by rheumatoid arthritis. However, they claim that the study gives another reason for women to continue breast feeding for longer periods.
Navtej Kohli on Associated Content
Topics: Medical News |