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Lungs ‘Boosted by Breastfeeding’

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A new study by UK and US scientists has revealed that the sheer physical effort involved in breastfeeding may leave babies with stronger lungs well into childhood.

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Previous studies have established that breastfeeding protects babies from respiratory problems early in life, but the relationship with lungpower later in childhood is less clear-cut.

For the study, the researchers followed a total of 1,456 babies from the Isle of Wight all the way through to there 10th year to test this.

A third of them had been breastfed for at least four months, and on average, these children could blow out more air after taking a deep breath, and could blow it out faster.

This happened regardless of whether their mother was asthmatic or suffered from allergies.

Other studies have suggested that immune chemicals in breast-milk may have a protective effect against asthma.

However, the scientists from Southampton University and the College of Veterinary Medicine in Michigan State University, said that the changes in lung volume they found were not completely characteristic of an asthmatic response, suggesting that other factors might be at work.

Dr Syed Arshad, from Southampton and the David Hide Asthma and Allergy Research Centre on the Isle of Wight, said that the physical effort needed to extract milk from the breast might be involved.

On average, babies needed to generate three times the sucking power compared to bottle-feeding, and feeding sessions tended to last much longer.

“What they are doing is very similar to the kind of exercises we suggest for pulmonary rehabilitation in older patients. I’m not aware of anyone suggesting that this might be the reason before,” BBC quoted Arshad, as
saying.

These researchers have now approached a bottle manufacturer with proposals to create a bottle, which mimics the effort needed to breastfeed.

He said that it was now feasible to conduct lung function tests on infants, which meant that a trial to see if it made a difference could be concluded within a year.

Dr Elaine Vickers, from Asthma UK, said that the study added to the evidence that breastfeeding has “long-lasting benefits” for children.

“While the results of the study don’t focus specifically on asthma, the researchers were able to demonstrate that children breast-fed for four months or longer had better lung function than those who weren’t breast-fed at all, or who were breast-fed for less than four months,” she added.

Sources:From The study is published in the journal Thorax.

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Breastfeeding Cuts Breast Cancer Risk

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Moms-to-be, please note — if you want to cut the risk of developing breast cancer later in life, just make it a point to breastfeed your baby for a year, at least.

 

A new study has corroborated the popular theory that breastfeeding significantly reduces a mother‘s risk of breast cancer — in fact, researchers have found women who breastfeed for a year are five per cent less likely to have the disease.

“Reducing your breast cancer risk by about five per cent might not sound like a big difference but the longer you breastfeed for, the more you will reduce your risk.

“So if a woman breastfeeds two or more children for at least six months each over her lifetime, it is clear she can make a significant impact on the cancer risk, not to mention all the other benefits of breastfeeding,” Dr Rachel Thompson of the World Cancer Research Fund said.

A recent survey for the WCRF found that three out of four women were unaware that breastfeeding could cut their risk of developing breast cancer, the most common form of cancer in the fair sex, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Dr Thompson has urged mothers to breastfeed for as long as they could.

She said: “We want to get across the message that breastfeeding is something positive that women can do to reduce their risk of breast cancer.

“Because the evidence that breast-feeding reduces breast cancer risk is convincing, we recommend women should breastfeed exclusively for six months and then continue with complementary feeding after that.”

Sources: The Times Of India

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Love Hormone

Breastfeeding an infantImage via Wikipedia

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Scientists have cracked the mystery of a mother’s selfless love for her child.

Science has finally cracked the mystery of a mother’s selfless love. The tenderness, intimacy and selflessness with which a mother interacts with her infant has been revered and celebrated through the ages as one of the most beautiful and inspiring manifestations of human behaviour.

Now a new study says the credit for triggering this altruistic love may go to the suckling baby.

Reported by a team of researchers from France, Italy and the UK, the work unravels the mechanism by which a nursing baby triggers a chain of chemical events that lead to a rush of the “love” hormone, oxytocin, in the brain of the mother. The findings appear in the journal PLoS Computational Biology.

Scientists have known for a while that oxytocin — also called the hormone of trust and lust — when released in the blood causes milk to be let down from the mammary glands. But they didn’t have any clue about the exact cascade of events that leads to the release of oxytocin in the brain.

What was known before the study is how a few thousand neurons, specialised to release oxytocin, are marshalled together to produce a sufficiently intense outburst during events such as childbirth, breastfeeding or even an orgasm.

“For 30 years we have known that these spurts arise because, during suckling, the oxytocin neurons fire together in dramatic synchronised bursts, but exactly how these bursts come about had puzzled us,”says Jianfeng Feng, a neuroscientist at the University of Warwick who led the study.

The scientists found that in response to suckling, the neurons start releasing oxytocin from their dendrites (protrusions on the branches for receiving electric signals from other brain cells) as well as nerve endings. The finding came as a surprise as dendrites were earlier thought to be that part of a neuron which receive rather than transmit information.

Dendrites usually create a weak network of connection between neurons. According to the researchers, the release of oxytocin from them allows for a massive spurt in communication between the neurons. This coordinates a “swarm” of oxytocin producing factories, leading to massive bursts of release at intervals of five minutes or so.

The scientists liken the event to a flock of birds or insects undertaking a closely coordinated action without a leader to guide.

“The dendrites do much more than just receive information,” Feng, who is also the director of the Centre for Computational Systems Biology at Fudan University in China, told KnowHow.

Oxytocin, the brain chemical that works as a trigger for love and affection in females, is stored in the pituitary gland from where it is discharged into the blood. Interestingly, it is released not only during a surge of maternal love but also romantic love. According to Semir Zeki, regarded as the doyen of neurobiology, oxytocin — quite like vasopressin in males — is released in the blood during a sexual orgasm. Copious amounts of oxytocin are detected in a woman’s blood during childbirth as well.

Because of the role it plays in releasing milk, the chemical is being used indiscriminately by the dairy industry to make milching animals produce even more milk. It is also used arbitrarily by some clinics and midwifes to make labour pain free, often risking the lives of babies.

Another interesting brain study recently found that this trust-building hormone reduces neuronal activity and weakens the connections in the amygdala, which serves as the brain’s fear hub.

Feng thinks similar triggers may be at work during other natural processes where abundant quantities of oxytocin are released into the blood.

Sources: The Telegraph (Kolkata, India)

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Breastfeeding Trust Hormone Clue

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Scientists have for the first time shown how a “trust” hormone is released in the brains of breastfeeding mothers.

It is further proof that breastfeeding promotes the maternal bond through a biochemical process.

The team at Warwick University said the hormone oxytocin was known to be released during breastfeeding but the mechanism in the brain was unclear.

Oxytocin also produces contractions during labour and causes milk to be “let down” from the mammary glands.

The hormone is produced in the hypothalamus – the part of the brain that controls body temperature, thirst, hunger, anger and tiredness.

It has been shown to promote feelings of trust and confidence and to reduce fear.

Co-ordination
The study, published in the journal PLoS Computational Biology, found that in response to a baby suckling, specialised neurons in the mothers’ brain start to release the hormone from the nerve endings.

But surprisingly oxytocin is also released from the part of the cell called the dendrite which is usually the part of a neurone which receives, rather than transmits information.

“The model gives us a possible explanation of an important event in the brain that could be used to study and explain many other similar brain activities” says Professor Jianfeng Feng

Using a mathematical model, the researchers worked out that this release from the dendrites allows a massive increase in communication between the neurons, co-ordinating a “swarm” of oxytocin factories producing intense bursts of the hormone.

They is an example of an “emergent process”, the scientists said – a closely co-ordinated action developing without a single leader, in the same as a flock of birds or insects swarms.

Study leader, Professor Jianfeng Feng said: “We knew that these pulses arise because, during suckling, oxytocin neurons fire together in dramatic synchronised bursts.

“But exactly how these bursts arise has been a major problem that has until now eluded explanation.

“The model gives us a possible explanation of an important event in the brain that could be used to study and explain many other similar brain activities.”

A spokesperson for the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) said breastfeeding for up to two years can have “significant health benefits” for mother and baby.

You may click to see:->Breast Feeding And The Function Of Mammary Glands

Sources: BBC NEWS:July 18,’08

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Breast-Feeding Curbs Type 2 Diabetes

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Babies who are breast-fed seem to be less likely to develop type 2 diabetes as adolescents, according to University of South Carolina researchers.

Using a subset of data from a larger study, the researchers analyzed 80 people between the ages of 10 and 21 with type 2 diabetes, who were matched with 167 “controls” who did not have diabetes.

The breastfeeding rate was lower among people with type 2 diabetes, compared with the control group. Specifically:

* Among African Americans, only 20 percent of those with type 2 diabetes had been breastfed, compared to 27 percent in the control group.
*Among Hispanics, 50 percent of the diabetes group was breastfed, compared with 84 percent of the control group.
*Among whites, 39 percent of the diabetes group was breastfed, compared with 78 percent of the control group.

The researchers concluded that breastfeeding in itself had a protective effect against type 2 diabetes. It also helped to stave off the disease because it helped to moderate childhood weights.

Encouraging breastfeeding in groups at high risk of type 2 diabetes may be useful, the researchers said.

Click to see also:->

Breast-feeding protects from arthritis

Breastfeeding infants for at least six months is best!

Breast-Feeding Update

Breast Milk is Still The Best

Sources:
Reuters March 13, 2008
Diabetes Care March 2008, 31:470-475

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