In the US and most of the world breastmilk is known to be the optimal form of nutrition for infants thru the age of 6 months. But if the mother has a communicable disease, such as Hepatitis or HIV, the recommendation changes and many experts would caution against exclusive breastfeeding, especially in HIV+ women because of the risk of tranferring the virus to their chilld.
A new study, published in the Lancet, found conflicting evidence. The study was conducted in South Africa, an area hit hard by the AIDS epidemic. Moret han 1,300 mother-infant pairs enrolled in the study and were followed up to 6 months of age.
The researchers wanted to know how nutrient sources affected HIV status and overall morbidity in the infants with HIV+ mothers. The women in the study either exclusively breastfed, gave only infant formula, or did a combination of the two. A subset of mothers also fed their children solid foods.
They found that infants who were exclusively breastfed thru 6 months of age had a lower rate of transmission compared to infants given formula, solid foods, or a combination of formula, solids, and breastmilk.
Only 4 percent of infants with HIV+ mothers transmitted HIV during the first six months. This is half the rate of those babies either fed exclusively formula or a combination. And if the infants were given solid foods in additon to breastmilk and/or formula the rate of transmission was 11 times that of exclusively breastmilk fed babies.
They also found that the death rate of the infants fed exclusively breastmilk at 3 months was half that of infants fed only formula, 6 percent compared to 15 percent respectively.
The authors commented that breastmilk may help to protect these infants by providing antibodies to bacteria and viruses, including HIV. The breastmilk may also contain specific compounds that re-inforce the complex barrier in the GI system that keeps out harmful microorganisms.
Posted by Dr. Christina Gutierrez on April 5, 2007 03:33 PM
