'Breastfeeding not as beneficial as once thought'

[Jojay]

See this link.

www.gm.tv/index.cfm?articleid=26906

(hope the link works)

Comments??

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Mrs Badger, I admit I only skim read the paper. But surveys always introduce bias, people tend to be eager to please the interviewer.

Pruners, yes it did.

"An article in the medical journal The Lancet reports that young men and women from Belarus who, as children or unborn babies, were exposed to radioactive iodine released during the 1986 disaster have developed rogue antibodies.

These rogue antibodies attack the body in what is known as an autoimmune response. They fail to recognise the body's own tissue and treat it as an enemy in the same way that normal antibodies attack foreign infections. "

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/164740.stm

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I was under the impression the biggest study on risks of early weaning was in Belorus as well - am I confused about this?
I hope so, because it was one of the things which made me decide to wean at 6 rather than 4 months the second time round and some of these objections seem rather pertinent.

Well, I for one now feel really guilty that I didn't feed my infant son on a mixture of lactose, nonfat milk, palm oil or palm olein, whey protein concentrate, high oleic (safflower or sunflower) oil, coconut oil, soybean oil, mortierella alpina oil, crypthecodinium cohnii oil, adenosine-5'-monophosphate, cytidine-5'-monophosphate, disodium guanosine-5'-monophosphate, disodium inosine-5'- monophosphate, disodium uridine-5'-monophosphate, mixed tocopherol concentrate, monoglycerides, soy lecithin, taurine, calcium chloride, calcium hydroxide, cupric sulfate, ferrous sulfate, magnesium chloride, manganese sulfate, potassium bicarbonate, potassium hydroxide, potassium iodide, potassium phosphate, sodium citrate, sodium selenite, zinc sulfate, ascorbic acid, ascorbyl palmitate, beta carotene, biotin, calcium pantothenate, choline chloride, cyanocobalamin, folic acid, inositol, niacinamide, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, thiamine hydrochloride, vitamin a palmitate, vitamin d (cholecalciferol), vitamin e (dl-alpha tocopheryl acetate) and vitamin k (phytonadione).

watch your language is the article i had in mind when i posted my first post on this thread.

That's great, Kiski. I read something once about the only creatures who are bottle-fed in the UK being orphaned lambs and human babies.

LOL bluestocking

I've heard of various reports into the effects of the chernobyl disaster. Genetic mutations being one. here is one of many articles

I suppose it could render studies like that pretty useless as a measure for the rest of the world.

And for those of you without the time or wish to read that article, here is the precis version

(I adlibbed it not so long ago in one of the bf/ff bunfights after a particularly virulent post from a ff mother and got flamed for being 'aggressive'. - naughty kiskidee)

You know what, Kiski? I think it's all going to kick off in here - I'm going to make a big bowl of popcorn.

Good article Kiskidee.
I like the bit about how going on about how 'special' bf is makes it seem like it's going to be more trouble.

I hope not, Blu. I am knackered and need an early night.

haven't read thread but this came up @ breastfeeding group today
i felt quite annoyed that they said b/f not as beneficial as prev. thought but seemed to forget to mention formula can lead to food allergies/intolerance or maybe i'm wrong about that ?
also it would've been nice if they'd still pointed out the actual benefits of breastmilk

Well I now feel can entirely justify my newly acquired MN habit after finding this thread-it's education innit!

It's not going to stop anybody promoting breastfeeding really-just adds another layer of knowledge.
Seems like a reasonably scientific paper.

Kiskidee, just read your link. Whilst a staunch supporter of breastfeeding I think some of those claims are stretching it a bit.(evidence for "less well-developed nerves"?)

On a lighter note, can now explain why am not rocket scientist! FF!

"But look what has happened to life expectancy in the UK during the post-war period - the same period that saw the collapse in breastfeeding in this country"

I take it you mean that life expectancy leapt when ff became the norm?

Well ub the post war period there was also better plumbing, the drive for universal vaccination, the widespread use of antibiotics and the food ration card system which if nothing else brought a mor or less balanced diet into the homes of millions of otherwise undernourished children.... to mention a few.

These factors i think played a larger role in the increase in life expectancy than any form of infant feeding method would.

handbags, while i won't addressed your last post in full, can i say taht the article you are referring to is written by someone who is qualified by the International Board of Lactation Consultants. I feel quite sure that were i to search, i could find an evidenced based article saying so.

ok. swc. feel free to believe what you want.

so the studies which show that a ff child is more likely to develop leukemia will not factor into his overall life expectancy isn't relevant to your equation?

reliable studies are adjusted for the kind of confounding factors to which you allude.

Studies like this belarus one doesn't seem to make adjustment for the fact that it was conducted in one for most environmentally blighted parts of the world.

Surely "the experimental intervention to promote breastfeeding did not reduce the risk of asthma, hay fever, or eczema at age 6.5 years despite large increases in the duration and exclusivity of breastfeeding" is a different statement to "breastfeeding did not reduce the risk etc. etc."

I have only skim read the paper, but as far as I could see (and I may have read this wrongly), only 7.9% of the 'breastfeeding' group were still breastfeeding at 6 months?

yes that's correct MP.