Explanation for breastfeeding's protection against infant wheezing

Main Category: Allergy
Article Date: 07 Nov 2003 - 0:00 PDT

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The presence of transforming growth factor (TGF-beta 1) in breast milk may explain why it offers infants protection against wheezing.

American research published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology examined breastfeeding and wheezing in 243 infant-mothers pairs.

Levels of several cytokines, including TGF-beta1, were measured in the breast milk of all women several days after giving birth.

As previous research has established, the prevalence of infant wheeze decreased as the duration of breastfeeding increased and an inverse linear relationship was seen between TGF-beta1 levels and the risk of wheeze.

Breastfeeding for several months coupled with high TGF-beta1 levels reduced the risk of infant wheeze by 78% compared with short-term breastfeeding and low TGF-beta1 levels.

'With the exception of one study of cow's milk protein allergy, this is the first study of the effects of a cytokine in human milk on the health of the infant,' say the authors.

Reference:Oddy W et al (2003) TGF- beta in human milk is associated with wheeze in infancy J Allergy Clin Immunol 112 (4) 723-728