Tweet
It's been documented that women have fewer relapses during pregnancy. Now comes news that breast feeding also reduces the risk of relapses (see below article). This begs the question: what if you breast fed indefinitely? I'm not saying curl up with your four year old on the couch for a milky snack, but pump to keep producing milk (even if you pour it down the drain) to ward off debilitating MS relapses. Food, so to speak, for thought. - Dave
Breast feeding Can Reduce the Risk of Relapse in Women With MS
CHICAGO -- June 8, 2009 -- Women with multiple sclerosis (MS) who breastfeed exclusively for at least 2 months appear less likely to experience a relapse within a year after their baby's birth, according to a study published early online and appearing in the August print issue of Archives of Neurology.
Annette Langer-Gould, MD, then with Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, and now of Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Pasadena, California, and colleagues studied 32 pregnant women with MS and 29 pregnant women without MS who were the same age.
Participants were interviewed about clinical, menstrual, and breastfeeding history during each trimester and again 2, 4, 6, 9, and 12 months after they gave birth. In addition, neurological examination findings were collected from the physicians of women with MS.
More healthy women than women with MS breastfed (96% vs 69%), and among those who did breastfeed, women with MS were more likely to begin daily formula feedings within 2 months after birth (30% vs 18%).
"Of the 52% of women with MS who did not breastfeed or began regular supplemental feedings within 2 months postpartum [n = 15], 87% [n = 13] had a postpartum relapse, compared with 36% [n = 5] of the women with MS who breastfed exclusively for at least 2 months postpartum [n = 14]," the authors wrote.
"Women with MS and healthy women who breastfed exclusively had significantly prolonged lactational amenorrhea, which was associated with a decreased risk of relapse in women with MS."
Most women with MS who did not breastfeed or supplemented with formula feedings (73%) reported that their primary reason for doing so was to take medications for MS. Eight of them (53%) resumed MS medications within 2 months after birth.
"Why breastfeeding might be beneficial in humans with an autoimmune disease like MS has not been studied," the authors wrote. "Studies of immunity and breastfeeding, while plentiful, are predominantly focused on breast milk content and health benefits to the infant. Little is known about maternal immunity during breastfeeding."
The results suggest that women with MS should be encouraged to breastfeed exclusively for at least the first 2 months after birth instead of resuming medications, the authors noted. "Our findings call into question the benefit of foregoing breastfeeding to start MS therapies and should be confirmed in a larger study."
SOURCE: Archives of Neurology
Breast feeding Can Reduce the Risk of Relapse in Women With MS
CHICAGO -- June 8, 2009 -- Women with multiple sclerosis (MS) who breastfeed exclusively for at least 2 months appear less likely to experience a relapse within a year after their baby's birth, according to a study published early online and appearing in the August print issue of Archives of Neurology.
Annette Langer-Gould, MD, then with Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, and now of Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Pasadena, California, and colleagues studied 32 pregnant women with MS and 29 pregnant women without MS who were the same age.
Participants were interviewed about clinical, menstrual, and breastfeeding history during each trimester and again 2, 4, 6, 9, and 12 months after they gave birth. In addition, neurological examination findings were collected from the physicians of women with MS.
More healthy women than women with MS breastfed (96% vs 69%), and among those who did breastfeed, women with MS were more likely to begin daily formula feedings within 2 months after birth (30% vs 18%).
"Of the 52% of women with MS who did not breastfeed or began regular supplemental feedings within 2 months postpartum [n = 15], 87% [n = 13] had a postpartum relapse, compared with 36% [n = 5] of the women with MS who breastfed exclusively for at least 2 months postpartum [n = 14]," the authors wrote.
"Women with MS and healthy women who breastfed exclusively had significantly prolonged lactational amenorrhea, which was associated with a decreased risk of relapse in women with MS."
Most women with MS who did not breastfeed or supplemented with formula feedings (73%) reported that their primary reason for doing so was to take medications for MS. Eight of them (53%) resumed MS medications within 2 months after birth.
"Why breastfeeding might be beneficial in humans with an autoimmune disease like MS has not been studied," the authors wrote. "Studies of immunity and breastfeeding, while plentiful, are predominantly focused on breast milk content and health benefits to the infant. Little is known about maternal immunity during breastfeeding."
The results suggest that women with MS should be encouraged to breastfeed exclusively for at least the first 2 months after birth instead of resuming medications, the authors noted. "Our findings call into question the benefit of foregoing breastfeeding to start MS therapies and should be confirmed in a larger study."
SOURCE: Archives of Neurology
Comment