|
|
|
JACI Highlights - March 2006
Lowe et al - Atopic disease and breastfeeding - cause or consequence?
Historically, there has been widespread support for the concept that breastfeeding is protective against asthma and atopic disease. However, a number of recent studies have observed an association between breastfeeding and increased risk of developing asthma and eczema. A primary criticism of these studies has been that their findings may be attributable to "reverse causation." Infants at the highest risk of atopic disease (due to a strong family history of atopic disease or early signs of atopic disease such as eczema) may be breastfed longer in the hope that it will reduce the risk or delay the onset of symptoms of long term atopic disorders. Mr. Lowe and colleagues attempt to explain the association between breastfeeding and increased risk of atopic disease in the March 2006 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. They found that early signs of atopic disease in infants were associated with mothers prolonging exclusive breastfeeding, which supports the "reverse causation" theory. This finding casts doubt on previous reports suggesting that prolonged breastfeeding may lead to an increased risk of atopic disease. Due to the range of benefits associated with breastfeeding and the difficulty in interpreting any association between breastfeeding and risk of atopic disease, as demonstrated in this paper, breast-feeding should be promoted when formulating public health policy or advising individual mothers.
<back>
|
