Breastfeeding ‘cuts eczema risk in teens’

BREASTFED babies are largely protected against developing eczema as teenagers, research suggests.

Newborns who feed only on breast milk for at least three months have a 54 per cent lower risk of eczema at the age of 16, the study found.

The researchers, from King’s College London, the University of Bristol and Harvard University, tracked 13,000 babies born in 1996 and 1997 until they were 16.

Eczema affects one in five children and one in ten adults, leaving the skin itchy, dry, cracked, sore and red. Study leader Dr Carsten Flohr, of King’s College London, said: ‘The World Health Organisation recommends between four and six months of exclusive breastfeeding to aid prevention of allergy and associated illnesses.

‘ Our findings add further weight to the importance of campaigns like the BabyFriendly Hospital Initiative, which is tackling low rates of breastfeeding globally.’

The study, published in the JAMA Pediatrics journal, found 0.3 per cent of breastfed children developed eczema at the age of 16, compared to 0.7 per cent of those who were not breastfed. Britain has one of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in the world. The NHS suggests that mothers should feed their babies exclusively with breast milk until they are at least six months old, and then gradually introduce other food.

But many women struggle to breastfeed for a variety of reasons, including prior illness, low milk supplies or because their baby simply does not take to it.

After years of breastfeeding campaigns, experts have started to warn that women are under too much pressure.

Most mothers in the UK abandon breast milk early in their child’s life, turning to formula. Only 34 per cent of British children are breastfed until six months, compared to 49 per cent in the US, 50 per cent in Germany and 62 per cent in Switzerland.

And only 0.5 per cent of children in the UK are breastfed until the age of 12 months – the lowest level in the world.

In comparison, 27 per cent of children in the US, 35 per cent in Norway, 44 per cent in New Zealand and 92 per cent in India are breastfed until they are one.

While breastfeeding appeared to protect against eczema, the study found no proven link.

The researchers, who are funded by the NHS National Institute for Health Research, think breastfeeding helps ward off allergies by passing good bacteria from mother to infant very early in life. This is thought to provide their immune system with a strong ‘footprint’ that can still be seen in adulthood.

Professor Neena Modi, of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: ‘This study adds further weight to the evidence of the health benefits of breastfeeding for babies.

‘But it also shows that these should not be exaggerated and mothers should certainly not be demonised if for whatever reason they do not breastfeed.’