Maternal and child cytokine relationship in early life is not altered by cytokine gene polymorphisms

The development of immune responses is influenced by the interaction between environmental and genetic factors. Our previous study showed a close association between maternal and young infant’s cytokine responses. The question is how this association evolves over time and the contribution of genetic polymorphisms to this association. Five cytokines in mitogen-stimulated whole blood culture were measured from pregnant mothers and their children aged 2, 5, 12, 24 and 48 months. Cytokine gene polymorphisms were determined in both mothers and children. High production of maternal interleukin (IL)-10, tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) was significantly associated with higher levels of the corresponding cytokines in their children at 2 months (T2), but the association decreased over time. Maternal single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in IFN-γ gene, rs3181032, was found to be associated with child’s IFN-γ levels at T2 only, whereas maternal IL-10 rs4579758 and child’s TNF-α rs13215091 were associated with child’s corresponding cytokines at later ages but not at T2. In the final models including the gene polymorphisms, maternal cytokines were still the strongest determinant of child cytokines. Maternal cytokine during pregnancy, which could be a proxy for child’s environmental factors, showed its highest impact at early age, with no or little influence from genetic factors

Breastfeeding in Bolivia – information and attitudes

BACKGROUND: The main objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between the attitudes of the mother and her family towards breastfeeding and the actual feeding pattern in a Bolivian population. A second objective was to study the relationship between breastfeeding information, specified according to source and timing, and feeding pattern. METHODS: Cross-sectional interviews with 420–502 Bolivian mothers with an infant less than or equal to 1 year of age. Duration of exclusive breastfeeding, use of prelacteal food and/or colostrum were the main outcome measures. RESULTS: The attitudes of the mother, her partner (the infant's father) and the infant's grandmother towards breastfeeding did not influence the infant feeding pattern. Women who had received breastfeeding information from health care personnel before birth or on the maternity ward breastfed exclusively for a longer duration (adjusted p = 0.0233) and avoided prelacteal food to a greater extent (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 0.42; 95% confidence interval for adjusted odds ratio (95% CI AOR) = 0.23–0.72). Information from a doctor before birth or on the maternity ward was associated with less use of prelacteal food (AOR = 0.53; 95% CI AOR = 0.31–0.93), an increased use of colostrum (AOR = 3.30; 95% CI AOR = 1.16–9.37), but was not linked to the duration of exclusive breastfeeding (p = 0.1767). CONCLUSION: The current study indicates that breastfeeding information delivered by health care personnel in a non-trial setting may affect the infant feeding pattern including the use of prelacteal foods and colostrum. There was no evidence that the attitudes of the mother, or the infant's father or grandmother influenced actual feeding behavior. The lack of a "negative or neutral attitude" towards breastfeeding in the participants of the current study does, however, diminish the chances to link attitude to feeding behavior

Adiposity and hepatic lipid in healthy full-term, breastfed, and formula-fed human infants: a prospective short-term longitudinal cohort study

Background: The effect of mode of infant feeding on adiposity deposition is not fully understood. Objective: The objective was to test the hypothesis that differences in total and regional adipose tissue content and intrahepatocellular lipid (IHCL) arise in early infancy between breast- and formula-fed infants and to describe longitudinal changes. Design: This prospective longitudinal cohort study was performed in 2 hospitals in the United Kingdom. Healthy, full-term, appropriate weight-for-gestational age infants were recruited; adipose tissue volume and distribution were directly quantified by using whole-body magnetic resonance imaging; IHCL was assessed by in vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Measurements were performed after birth (median age: 13 d) and at 6–12 wk of age. Method of infant feeding was recorded prospectively by using maternally completed feeding diaries. Breastfed was defined as >80% of feeds consisting of breast milk at both points; formula-fed was defined as >80% of feeds consisting of formula milk at both points. Results: Longitudinal results were obtained from 70 infants (36 breastfed, 9 mixed-fed, and 25 formula-fed). No differences were found in total or regional adipose tissue or IHCL between breastfed and formula-fed infants. In pooled analyses including all feeding groups, IHCL and total adipose tissue approximately doubled between birth and 6–12 wk: IHCL after birth (median: 0.949; IQR: 0.521–1.711) and at 6–12 wk (1.828; 1.376–2.697; P < 0.001) and total adipose tissue after birth (0.749 L; 0.620–0.928 L) and at 6–12 wk (1.547 L; 1.332–1.790 L; P < 0.001). Increasing adiposity was characterized by greater relative increases in subcutaneous than in internal adipose tissue depots. Conclusions: No differences were detectable in adipose tissue or IHCL accretion between breastfed and formula-fed infants up to 2 mo. The substantial increase in IHCL seen over this period in both breastfed and formula-fed infants is a novel observation, which suggests that hepatic storage of lipids may be physiologic up to 2 mo. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02033005

Natural parenting : back to basics in infant care

Peer reviewe

Which women stop smoking during pregnancy and the effect on breastfeeding duration

BACKGROUND: Cigarette smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes and women who quit smoking at this time are able to reduce the risk of low birth weight, preterm labour, spontaneous abortion and perinatal death. This study investigates the socio-demographic characteristics of pregnant women who stop smoking during pregnancy and the association between stopping smoking and breastfeeding duration. METHODS: A 12 month longitudinal study was conducted in two public maternity hospitals in Perth, Australia between mid-September 2002 and mid-July 2003. While in hospital, participating mothers completed a self-administered baseline questionnaire. Follow up telephone interviews were conducted at 4, 10, 16, 22, 32, 40 and 52 weeks. RESULTS: A total of 587 (55%) mothers participated in the study. Two hundred and twenty six (39%) mothers reported smoking prior to pregnancy and 77 (34%) of these stopped smoking during pregnancy. Women who were pregnant for the first time were twice as likely (OR = 2.05; 95% CI 1.047 – 4.03; p < 0.05) to quit smoking as multiparous women. Women who smoked more than 10 cigarettes per day were significantly less likely to quit smoking during pregnancy (OR = 0.36; 95% CI 0.18 – 0.69; p < 0.05). Women who consumed alcohol before pregnancy were three times more likely to quit smoking (OR = 2.58; 95% CI 1.00 – 6.66; p < 0.05). Quitting smoking during pregnancy was significantly associated with breastfeeding for longer than six months (OR = 3.70; 95% CI 1.55 – 8.83; p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Pregnancy is a time when many women are motivated to quit smoking and providing targeted smoking cessation interventions at this time, which take into account factors predictive of quitting smoking, are more likely to be successful

Epidemiology of basal-like breast cancer (Breast Cancer Research and Treatment DOI: 10.1007/s10549-007-9632-6)

Risk factors for the newly identified “intrinsic” breast cancer subtypes (luminal A, luminal B, basal-like and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive/estrogen receptor-negative) were determined in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study, a population-based, case–control study of African-American and white women. Immunohistochemical markers were used to subtype 1,424 cases of invasive and in situ breast cancer, and case subtypes were compared to 2,022 controls. Luminal A, the most common subtype, exhibited risk factors typically reported for breast cancer in previous studies, including inverse associations for increased parity and younger age at first full-term pregnancy. Basal-like cases exhibited several associations that were opposite to those observed for luminal A, including increased risk for parity and younger age at first term full-term pregnancy. Longer duration breastfeeding, increasing number of children breastfed, and increasing number of months breastfeeding per child were each associated with reduced risk of basal-like breast cancer, but not luminal A. Women with multiple live births who did not breastfeed and women who used medications to suppress lactation were at increased risk of basal-like, but not luminal A, breast cancer. Elevated waist-hip ratio was associated with increased risk of luminal A in postmenopausal women, and increased risk of basal-like breast cancer in pre- and postmenopausal women. The prevalence of basal-like breast cancer was highest among premenopausal African-American women, who also showed the highest prevalence of basal-like risk factors. Among younger African-American women, we estimate that up to 68% of basal-like breast cancer could be prevented by promoting breastfeeding and reducing abdominal adiposity