Breastfeeding Could Ward off Arthritis Later in Life

The benefits of breastfeeding are widely known, but one recently discovered fact is that women may benefit from the experience later in life. Women who breastfed their babies for more than one year are 50 percent less likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis than women who did not breastfeed.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease that causes inflammation of the lining of the joints as well as other organs. It can also lead to long-term damage to the joints, which can result in loss of function, chronic pain, and disability according to the association for arthritis. It can affect people of any age and race, but it mostly begins to develop between the ages of 40 and 60. Millions of people around the world are affected by this debilitating disease, which can affect mobility and change your whole lifestyle.

A recent study, published in the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, observed 136 women with Rheumatoid Arthritis and 544 women that did not have the disease, all within the same age range. The researchers found that the women who had breastfed for longer periods of time were much less likely to develop the disease. The women, who breastfed their babies for one year or less, were 25 percent less likely to develop the condition.

Over the past 30 years, women who breastfed their babies for more than six months have increased dramatically. The researchers said that it is difficult to say whether there is a direct link between the higher rates of breastfeeding and the corresponding decline in the number of women who developed rheumatoid arthritis.

Oral contraceptives were also once thought to protect against rheumatoid arthritis because of the hormones they contain, however, in this study it did not ward off the disease. The results of this study, however, only offer another good reason why women should choose to breastfeed their babies.