Long-term breastfeeding associated with joint pain

Breastfeeding for over two years is associated with increased joint pain and arthritis, a team reports in BMC Medical. The large study of nearly 3,500 women aged over 50 years old from Korea looked at the association of prior breastfeeding duration with current joint pain and knee osteoarthritis.

Of the 3,454 participants:

• 298 had not breastfed;
• 1,042 had breastfed for 1–24 months;
• 815 had breastfed for 25–48 months;
• 1,299 had breastfed for over 48 months.

“As the breastfeeding duration increased, the odds ratio of joint pain prevalence also increased,” highlights the team involved. “Long-term feeding for more than 25 months was associated with an increased prevalence of joint pain and degenerative arthritis in Korean women aged older than 50 years.”

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