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Longer
Breast Feeding
Linked to Heart Disease Risk
NEW
YORK (Reuters Health) - Although breast-feeding provides the best
nutrition to infants, new research is raising the question of
whether breast-feeding for more than a few months may increase
a child's risk for heart disease later in life.
In a study
of 331 adults in their 20s, UK researchers found that those who
were breast-fed for more than 4 months showed greater stiffness
in their arteries--an early indicator of heart disease risk. And
the longer the duration of breast-feeding beyond 4 months, the
greater the artery stiffness.
However, these
early findings should not alter the view that breast milk is the
best nutrition source for infants, the authors caution in the
March 17th issue of the British Medical Journal.
``The advantages
of longer periods of breast-feeding need to be weighed against
any possible adverse effects,'' lead study author Paul Leeson
told Reuters Health. ``The established advantages at present outweigh
any longer-term disadvantages.''
Leeson is
a researcher at the Institute of Child Health in London, UK. The
center has collaborated with the infant food industry on research
into child nutrition.
Besides comprising
the mixture of nutrients babies need to be healthy, breast milk
contains protective substances that formula does not. Research
shows that breast-fed children are less likely to have certain
health problems such as ear infections and allergies. Experts
generally tell women to breast-feed for as long as they and their
babies wish.
Breast-feeding
has even been linked to a lower heart disease risk. However, according
to Leeson's team, statistics from the American Academy of Pediatrics
show that among men born in the early-1900s, those who were breast-fed
for a year or more had a higher-than-average rate of heart artery
disease.
To test the
hypothesis that the duration of breast-feeding influence heart
disease later, the investigators examined artery function in young
adults--before the effects of aging might obscure any effects
of breast-feeding. They found that breast-feeding beyond 4 months
was linked to greater stiffness in the participants' arm arteries.
Having high
cholesterol or high blood pressure was also related to greater
arterial stiffness, but even when such heart disease risk factors
were considered, longer breast-feeding was still linked to hardened
arteries.
A possible
explanation rests in the way breast-feeding affects cholesterol
metabolism. Breast-fed babies have been found to have higher cholesterol
concentrations in the blood and vessel walls--a build-up that
normally regresses. But, according to Leeson, exposure to the
typical high-fat Western diet might get in the way of this natural
regression.
``Therefore,''
Leeson said, ``the way to get around any possible adverse cardiovascular
effect may well be to reinforce the message of a healthy diet
during the first few decades of life.''
In an accompanying
editorial, Dr. Ian Booth of the University of Birmingham, UK,
writes that these findings ''should not alter current recommendations
about breast-feeding being the best way to promote infant and
maternal health.''
But, Booth
writes, while the superiority of breast-feeding is ``unchallenged,''
the optimal time for weaning babies has been inadequately studied.
These findings
and other ``challenging strands of evidence,'' according to Booth,
are questioning the policy of telling women to breast-feed as
long as they wish.
SOURCE:
British Medical Journal 2001;322:625-626, 643-647
Reference
Source 89
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