Breastfeeding lowers rheumatoid arthritis risk in women

Breastfeeding for a longer time is associated with a lower risk of rheumatoid arthritis, says research published in Rheumatology. And women who had breastfed are about half as likely to have rheumatoid arthritis compared to those who had never breastfed.

The study involved 7349 women in China aged at least 50 years. A questionnaire established that most women had at least one child, and of these, over 95% had breastfed for at least one month. Only 11% had used the contraceptive pill, and mostly for a short time. The average age of first pregnancy was 24 years and the average age of rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis was 47.5 years.

Women who had had at least one child and breastfed were around half as likely to have rheumatoid arthritis. And the longer they breastfed for, the lower the risk of rheumatoid arthritis. There was no relationship between the use of the contraceptive pill and rheumatoid arthritis.

“Women who took part in this study were born in the 1940s and 1950s, before China’s one-child policy was introduced in the late 1970s, and at a time when breastfeeding was more prevalent,” explains the study author, Prof Peymane Adab. “The consequent decline in breastfeeding supports the need for prospective studies to examine whether there will be a higher incidence of rheumatoid arthritis in the future.

“More importantly, replication of the association between breastfeeding and lower risk of rheumatoid arthritis in a different population reinforces the need for further research to understand the hormonal mechanisms involved in the onset of rheumatoid arthritis.”