Infant Feeding in Finnish Children <7 yr of Age With Newly Diagnosed IDDM
- Suvi M Virtanen, MD, MSc,
- Leena Räsänen, DSc,
- Antti Aro, MSc,
- Jaana Lindström, MSc,
- Henna Sippola, MSc,
- Raise Lounamaa, MD,
- Liisa Toivanen, RN,
- Jaakko Tuomilehto, MD,
- Hans K Åkerblom, MD and
- Childhood Diabetes in Finland Study Group
- Department of Nutrition and the Children's Hospital, Second Department of Pediatrics, University of Helsinki, and the Departments of Biochemistry and Epidemiology, National Public Health Institute Helsinki, Finland
- Address correspondence and reprint requests to Suvi Virtanen, MD, Department of Nutrition, University of Helsinki, SF-00710 Helsinki, Finland.
Abstract
Objective We studied associations between the type of feeding in infancy and the incidence of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM).
Research Design And Methods We studied 103 newly diagnosed diabetic children <7 yr of age and 103 age- and sex-matched population-based control children in a countrywide study.
Results The risk of IDDM was decreased (P < 0.05) among children breast-fed for at least 7 mo (odds ratio [OR] 0.45, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.24–0.85) or exclusively breast-fed for at least 3 (OR 0.33, 95% CI 0.13–0.84) or 4 (OR 0.43, 95% CI 0.22–0.84) mo. Also, children who were ≥4 mo old at the time of introduction of supplementary milk feeding had a lower risk of diabetes (OR 0.48, 95% CI 0.26–0.91).
Conclusions The protective effects of a long duration of breast-feeding and a late introduction of dairy products on the risk of IDDM remained significant after adjusting for the mother's education.
- Received August 15, 1990.
- Accepted January 10, 1991.
- Copyright © 1991 by the American Diabetes Association
