(Ivanhoe Newswire) – New information reveals breast milk may benefit
girls more than boys, especially when it comes to preventing respiratory
infections.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center followed 119 premature babies
from Buenos Aires through their first year of life and found girls were
protected more by breast milk than boys. In addition, girls fed formula had the
greatest risk for severe respiratory infections. They were eight times more
likely to be hospitalized for serious respiratory infections shortly after birth
than breast-fed girls.
The results of this study contradict the theory that breast milk prevents
infections in babies by providing immune system chemicals. Researchers say
breast milk does not prevent babies from getting infections; rather, it helps
them manage infections better.
“In light of these results, we are starting to think that milk does not directly
transfer protection against lung infections but instead switches on a universal
protective mechanism, already in the baby, that is for some reason easier to
turn on in girls than in boys,” senior investigator Fernando Polack, M.D., an
infectious disease specialist at Hopkins Children’s in Baltimore, was quoted as
saying.
SOURCE: Pediatrics, 2008;121:e1510-e1516
