Breastfeeding may lead to low risk of arthritis

If a woman breastfeeds her child for a longer duration, she can lower her risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) later on in life.

A Chinese study published online on 6th Jan 2014 in the journal Rheumatolgy, involving 7000 older women found that those who had breastfed their children were around half as likely to have RA comapred to women who had never breastfed.

RA is a type of arthritis that is painful, and causes swelling, stiffness, loss of funtion and even disfigurement of the joints. It affects more women than men, and the exact cause is not yet known.

Written by Dr. Ajay Sati.