Wellness Corner

If you're a woman of childbearing age who is concerned about the diseases you may encounter as you get older, you should pay close attention to a link that has been found between breastfeeding and the development of rheumatoid arthritis. This disease has no known cure but it has been found that the likelihood developing it is cut in half if you breastfeed your children for longer than one year.

"Women who had breastfed for 13 months or more were half as likely to get rheumatoid arthritis as those who had never breast fed. Those who had breast fed for one to 12 months were 25 per cent less likely to get the disease." (source)

Of course, there are a lot of different problems that can arise with your health as you age. No one is suggesting that you have children - or that you breastfeed them - specifically for the purpose of preventing a health problem like rheumatoid arthritis. But if you're going to be having kids and breastfeeding them anyway, you may want to think about prolonging the breastfeeding period past the one-year mark in order to obtain this health benefit.

Question of the Day: What are the reasons that there would be a relationship between breastfeeding and rheumatoid arthritis?

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