Question:
A friend has been told that breastfeeding reduces the risk of your
children devel;oping diabetes in later life - something which concerns
her as she has gestational diabetes - does anyone know anything about
this and if so can they give me details or references to the research
(she's a midwife -and hasn't heard this until now)
If possible could you reply by email as I don't come to this group
very much (Sorry)
Answer:
Andrea, I can't give you the cites, but there is a connection between early
feeding and the risk of developing childhood diabetes (Type 1, or Jeuvenile
Diabetes). Type 1 is an autoimmune disease where the insulin producing cells
in the pancreas are destroyed by the immune system, and is entirely different
than Type 2 and gestational diabetes, in which people often make lots of
insulin but for some reason are partly insensitive to it and can't use it
properly.
What they found was that places where breastfeeding is the norm, childhood
diabetes is very rare...and where bottles show up, the rate of childhood
diabetes goes way up. The suspected culpret is thought to be a protein in
cow's milk. In children with a tendency to autoimmunity, if they encounter
this protein when they are very small, they develop antibodies to it...and
the protein is apparently similar to one in the pancreas. So their mistake
prone immature immune system thinks the pancreas is the enemy and sets about
to destroy it...which can take several years until symptoms show up. More
studies are looking at this now because it is the first time a FOOD has been
suspected as the trigger for an autoimmune disorder.
Many doctors and the Canadian Diabetes Assocaition recommend that people with
a family history of Type 1 diabetes or other autoimmune disorders might want
to consider keeping cow's milk based formulas out of their child's diet for
the first year (and obviously nursing would be the best choice!!).
There are tons of good reasons to breastfeed - 75% of kids who get childhood
diabetes have NO direct family history of the disease. However, your friend's
gestational diabetes is NOT related to Type 1 diabetes.
Mary G. Mother of 3, wife of a Type 1 diabetic....and yes, we kept the cow's
milk out of their diets for the first year. None of them have it so far, at
ages 8, 5 and 1, but I would hate to find out later I could have prevented
it.
