Breastfeeding is the practice of a woman feeding an infant (or sometimes a toddler or a young child) with milk produced from her mammary glands, usually directly from the nipples. Babies have a sucking instinct allowing them to extract the milk.
Breastfeeding a child may protect women from metabolic syndrome, a condition linked to diabetes and heart disease in women – Breastfeeding a child may lower a woman’s risk of developing Metabolic Syndrome, a condition linked to heart disease and diabetes in women, according to a Kaiser Permanente study.
The Global Coalition Against Child Pneumonia and the World Pneumonia Day coalition was established in April 2009. It seeks to bring focus on pneumonia as a public health issue and to prevent the millions of avoidable deaths from pneumonia that occur each year. – Nearly 100 leading global health organizations from around the world joined forces to recognize the first-annual World Pneumonia Day on November 2 and urge governments to take steps to fight pneumonia, the world’s leading killer of young children.
Environmental chemicals found in breast milk and high incidence of testicular cancer — High levels of persistent environmental chemicals found in breast milk in a population with many male reproductive problems. – A comparison of breast milk samples from Denmark and Finland revealed a significant difference in environmental chemicals which have previously been implicated in testicular cancer or in adversely affecting development of the fetal testis in humans and animals.
Health experts offer action steps local governments can use to cut childhood obesity rates – Local governments play a crucial role in the fight against childhood obesity by creating environments that make it either easy or hard for children to eat healthier diets and move more.
Breastfeeding reduces risk of breast cancer in women with a family history of the disease – Women with a family history of breast cancer were 59 percent less likely to develop breast cancer themselves if they breastfed their children, revealed by US researchers.
Breastfeeding associated with a reduced risk of relapse in women with multiple sclerosis – Women with multiple sclerosis who breastfeed exclusively for at least two months appear less likely to experience a relapse within a year after their baby’s birth, according to a report that will appear in the August print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Study in pregnant women suggests probiotics may help ward off obesity – One year after giving birth, women were less likely to have the most dangerous kind of obesity if they had been given probiotics from the first trimester of pregnancy, found new research that suggests manipulating the balance of bacteria in the gut may help fight obesity.
Moms who breastfeed less likely to develop heart attacks or strokes and cardiovascular disease. – The longer women breastfeed, the lower their risk of heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular disease, report University of Pittsburgh researchers in a study published in the May issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Researchers recommends annual screening for vitamin D deficiency and routine vitamin D supplementation in at-risk populations, such as dark-skinned or veiled groups. – Annual screening for vitamin D deficiency and routine vitamin D supplementation in at-risk populations, such as dark-skinned or veiled groups, is recommended by Australian researchers.
Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) estimate lives lost due to delay in antiretroviral drug use for HIV/AIDS in South Africa. – More than 330,000 lives were lost to HIV/AIDS in South Africa from 2000 and 2005 because a feasible and timely antiretroviral (ARV) treatment program was not implemented, assert researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) in a study published online by the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS) (http://www.jaids.com/).
