Risk: How a Baby May Save Your Joints

NY Times ^ | November 9, 2004 | ERIC NAGOURNEY

[neverdem]

VITAL SIGNS

Women who breast-feed have a lower risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, even decades later, researchers have found. And the longer they nurse their babies, the smaller the risk becomes.

The findings grow out of the long-term Nurses' Health Study, which has followed the health of more than 120,000 women since 1976. The study, led by Dr. Elizabeth W. Karlson of Brigham and Women's Hospital, a Harvard affiliate, appears in the current issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.

Rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that can destroy the joints, affects women much more often than it does men. Some scientists have theorized that male hormones may help hold the disease in check.

Indeed, the authors of this study said they had thought they would find that breast-feeding increased the risk for the illness, on the theory that the hormone prolactin, which rises when women nurse, might serve as a kind of trigger.

"However," they wrote, "our findings demonstrated the opposite."

The study also found that women from 30 to 35 with irregular menstrual cycles had a greater chance of developing rheumatoid arthritis later in life.

Among the women studied, those who reported having breast-fed for 13 to 23 months were one-fifth as likely as women who had not breast-fed to develop the arthritis. Those who said they had breast-fed for at least two years reduced their risk by half.

The researchers said their study did not confirm earlier findings that women who used oral contraceptives lowered their risk of the disease. And although rheumatoid arthritis often comes at the time of menopause, the study found no difference among women who had hormone therapy.

[stopem]

Thank you for adding me to your prayer list! Means a lot to me. Bless you.

[greccogirl]

Most men might see it that way, but it is nonetheless, silly. Especially since I have never in my life seen ANY woman "flop it out" to feed her child. My husband wasn't uncomfortable with it at all. I had two babies, ten a half months apart, and finding a "secure" place to nurse just wasn't always on the agenda. I think men need to grow up a little.

[nopardons]

You're welcome. :-)

I was one of FR's original "PRAYER WARRIORS",but no longer post to all of those threads.When someone mentions an illness/problem,I just add them to my FR prayer list,now. Consider yourself a member on it and know that someone is praying for you.