Breast-Fed Babies Have Fewer Fatal Infections

The February 5, 2000 edition of the British journal Lancet reports that children who are breast-fed have a significantly lower mortality (death) rate from infectious disease.

The World Health Organization coordinated the study with researchers from around the world. Data from Brazil, Gambia, Ghana, Pakistan, the Philippines and Senegal shows that infants who were breast-fed were six times less likely to die from infectious disease throughout the second year of life than those who were not breast fed. The study also found that the protection afforded by breast-feeding diminished as the children got older.

In the February, 2000 issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology researchers cautioned expectant mothers about the influence of advertisements for baby formula, saying that mothers who received literature from formula manufacturers were five times more likely to stop breast-feeding during the first few days after delivery, the most critical time for building the infant's immune system.