Posted on 11/12/2004 8:08:41 PM PST by 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.
"In the US study, the group with the highest lifetime average of ejaculation - 21 times per month - were a third less likely to develop the cancer than the reference group, who ejaculated four to seven times a month."
God gave us our bodies and meant for us to use them!
As a woman with R/A I can tell you its a horrid disease.
But I am tired of this junk science too.
First they tell you to eat eggs they are good for you, than its dont eat eggs cause suddenly we decided that it will kill you than we are back to on the other hand maybe eggs are okay.
Reminds me of the Dims, FLIPFLOPS!
What about the Vitamin E theory now, take vitamin E because wonderful things will happen, you will look and feel sexier, it wll improve cholestrol levels, NOW dont take vitamin E it will kill you early.
Who puts this flipflop garbage out there anyway?
libs?
What a joke!
I agree!
Haveing nursed 7 of my own....
I, too, much to my dismay, am developing arthritic fingers, as did my mom who nursed 4 of us.
They really need to researsh this better.
Of course, as my newspaper-editor-boss used to say, The results of any study is directly related to who's funding it.
Offensive? LOL How so? Why would you be offended? Seeing a woman feed her child scares you?
Thank goodness. Someone with sense. If a mother discretely (and I say discretely) breast feeds her baby in public it should offend NO ONE. If it does you have issues you might need to see someone about. Too bad that everyone's idea of breasts are tied into us turning them from a child feeding body appendage into a sex object - That is REALLY the problem, isn't it?
Okay now I need a new monitor, LOL
Yes, like the squalling infant who decides just at the worst time that it wants to nurse, NOW!
Sometimes the women are just as put out about having to nurse in public, too...
Yes, in theory you can pre-pump milk and pack it...
but in order for it to keep it is better to freeze it; then you have to thaw it to just the right temperature, etc. etc.
Full Disclosure: my wife breast-fed. The kids didn't always care about the niceties when they wanted to tank up. ;-)
"...breast...child feeding body appendage into a sex object-..."
I think that we women have to understand that men do not see breasts as "child feeding body appendages". Breasts ARE sex objects to them. I think it is perfectly normal for most men to feel uncomfortable when a woman breast feeds in front of them. I'm not saying that breast feeding in public is necessarily wrong, but we should not discount that fact that most men are uncomfortable about it. I chose not to do it in public and had no problem finding a "private" place to feed my babies. Other women may feel otherwise and that's OK too.
Nice news. So far, I've done 7 years. No breast cancer, no rheumatoid arthritis for me.
Well, my children ate on a pretty regular schedule, every 3 to 4 hours. Not too often are people forced to be away from a private place (with an infant) for that amount of time, hence my comment about refugees.
Either way, modesty is not about what YOU are comfortable with, it's about being respectful of those around you, who may not be as carefree with their anatomy and bodily functions.
My wife was one of those "plan ahead & take a blanket just in case" specimens.
All I meant was "your mileage my vary."
Sure, it's great to plan ahead and to be respectful,
but sometimes plans go awry.
That being said, there's a difference between those who
flaunt breast-feeding and those who happen to have
been caught out once or twice...
Cheers!
I concur.
And many thanks for your reply.Far too many,even here,swallow,as whole cloth,every single ridiculous junk science report that comes down the pike and then get all huffy,when a simple,common send post proves that it really is JUNK.
I'm so sorry that you're developing arthritic fingers. I know how painful that is,because my beloved grandmother,no matter how hard she tried to,could never really completely cover the pain she was having.
I'm so sorry that you're developing arthritic fingers. I know how painful that is,because my beloved grandmother,no matter how hard she tried to,could never really completely cover the pain she was having.
I really don't know...sorry.It was very bad at times and the weather (rain) would set it off;is all I remember.Oh yes and her knuckles would swell.
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