Breastfeeding can overcome genetic tendency toward ear infections.

Just last week my husband and I were remarking at the fact that our son hasn't had a single infection of any kind in his 3 1/2 years of life.  I remember having lots of ear infections as a child (and faking a few to get out of going to school), and I was expecting our son to have the same experience.

That's why I was interested to see the news this week that researchers have found that breastfeeding can mitigate the effect of a genetic tendency toward ear infections.  Recurrent ear infections, as you know, can lead to hearing problems and learning difficulties.  They're also really hard on parents and not fun for kids.

This month's edition of the journal Pediatrics reports that researchers at the University of Texas identified small variations in two genes which cause greater production of inflammatory signaling molecules and reduce immune system effectiveness.  Having these genetic variations signals an increased risk for ear infections. 

But, Science Daily reports, they found that, "the effect could be counteracted with a practice long known to increase immune resistance: breast-feeding."

"This is a major finding, that breast-feeding neutralized the effect even in kids who had all the genetic polymorphisms," Patel said. "Not only that, they were protected from recurrent infections even later in childhood, long after they stopped breast-feeding."

This is one study of many this year to have drawn a link between breastfeeding and both physical and mental health.  For studies I've written about since September, check out the category "New research on breastfeeding."

I've been itching to do a post about all of the incredible research on the benefits of breastfeeding released earlier this year. I'll get to it in the next few weeks, so check back soon!