Researchers back breastfeeding to avoid asthma

Friday October 17th, 2008

New findings reinforce the benefits of breast-feeding in helping to prevent allergic diseases in children.

Dr Mohammad Shamssain and his team at Sunderland University, UK, investigated the positive benefits of breastfeeding in preventing asthma. They based their findings on 7,000 schoolchildren aged 6-15 years in the North-East of England.

Children who had been exclusively breastfed for six months or more had a significantly lower risk of asthma. This benefit was particularly strong for boys.

"Breastfed children showed lower prevalence rates of asthma, rhinitis [hay fever] and eczema," Dr Shamssain said.

He added: "Asthma and wheeze were resolved significantly earlier in breastfed children than those who were not breastfed.

"Breastfeeding is a cost-effective approach to a significant prevention of allergic disease in children."

The team also looked at the effect of obesity on asthma risk in young children. They found that obese boys and girls are more likely to have asthma and allergy symptoms such as coughing, breathlessness and wheezing - especially after exercise.

This link was again stronger in boys than girls, Dr Shamssain explains.

"In boys, the risk of being overweight is associated with exercise-induced wheezing, life-time asthma, and current wheeze. In girls, the risk of being overweight is mainly associated with exercise-induced wheezing.

"These results demonstrate that obesity is a definite risk factor in asthma among young children, and there are gender differences regarding the respiratory risk of obesity," he concluded.

Result presented by Dr Shamssain at the annual meeting of the European Respiratory Society held from October 4-8 in Berlin, Germany.

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Tags: Allergies & Asthma | Child & Adolescent Health | UK News

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