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Breast-feeding may lower risk for multiple sclerosis

Mothers who breast-feed for longer periods of time are less likely to develop multiple sclerosis compared with those who do not breast-feed at all or do so for shorter periods of time, according to findings recently published in Neurology.

According to a press release, women with multiple sclerosis (MS) have substantially fewer relapses during pregnancy or while they are breast-feeding exclusively.

“We hypothesized that the lack of ovulation may play a role, so we wanted to see if having a longer time of breast-feeding or fewer total years when a woman is ovulating could be associated with the risk of MS,” Annette Langer-Gould, MD, PhD, from the department of research and evaluation at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, said in the release.

Researchers recruited 397 women with newly diagnosed MS or its precursor, clinically isolated syndrome, and matched them with a control group of 433 women who were the same race and age. These participants answered questions on the behavioral factors (breast-feeding, hormonal contraceptive use and pregnancies) and biological factors (age at amenorrhea, menarche and menopause) to determine ovulatory years.

Langer-Gould and colleagues found that among women who had live births, a cumulative duration of breast-feeding of 15 months or more was associated with a reduced risk for MS/clinically isolated syndrome (adjusted OR = 0.47; 95% CI, 0.28–0.77) compared with 0 to 4 months of breast-feeding). In addition, being more than 15 years old at age at menarche was also associated with a lower risk for MS/clinically isolated syndrome (adjusted OR = 0.56; 95% CI, 0.33–0.96). Total ovulatory years and the remaining factors that determined those years, including age at first birth, episodes of amenorrhea, gravidity, hormonal contraceptive use and parity, showed no significant association with the risk for MS/clinically isolated syndrome.

“This study provides more evidence that women who are able to breast-feed their infants should be supported in doing so,” Langer-Gould said in the release.

The study is the latest to suggest health benefits to women who breast-feed. Other recently published research suggests breast-feeding may also lower the risk for CVD and stroke, as well as save 20,000 lives a year from breast cancer. – by Janel Miller

Disclosure: Langer-Gould reports being principal investigator for two phase 3 clinical trials involving Biogen Idec and Hoffman-LaRoche. Please see the study for a list of all authors’ relevant disclosures.