In Praise of Breastfeeding

Dr. Melissa Bartick—a friend of mine who also happens to be a breastfeeding advocate—recently had an article, "Let's Get Serious About Promoting Breastfeeding," published in The Huffington Post. She mentions The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding as outlined by the UNICEF/WHO Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative in the United States.

I'm not an expert on the subject, but I'm amazed that breastfeeding would even need advocacy. If anything, I'd think that formula feeding would "need" it. And I suppose the formula feeding does get some very effective advocacy from marketers who stand to make profits from pushing formula on people who don't really need to use it. The preponderance of evidence suggests that, in many cases, breastfeeding is healthier for children as well as economically and environmentally advisable.

Anyway, with today being the end of World Breastfeeding Week, I figure this is a good time to return to the subject as it relates to celiac disease. As Nancy Lapid points out, the current wisdom is that breastfeeding with a slow introduction to gluten between the fourth and sixth months can significantly reduce or postpone the emergence of celiac disease among infants. As I've mentioned previously, Swedish findings on this subject were dramatic, appearing to eliminate a very large number of infant cases—though not all of them. (Note that the recommendation is different than the "exclusive breast-feeding for the first six months" practice suggested by some breastfeeding advocates. This discrepancy needs to be addressed!)

Breastfeeding isn't easy for all women, but coaches can address many problems women face regarding breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding advocates argue that public policy support of breastfeeding as a form of preventative care can save money in the long run by protecting children from health problems. A similar "economic" case can be made for public policy that supports at least stalling celiac disease through strategically timed breastfeeding. And a similar case can be made for getting more people screened and properly advised regarding celiac disease. In other words: Enabling people on gluten-free and other medical diets to receive insurance coverage for visits to dietitians and nutritionists should save money in the long run, and encourage professionals to become better informed.

Here's a simple, silent tribute to breastfeeding from Burlington, Vermont.



Source (5:51)

"GLUTEN-FREE" REDEFINED

"Codex Alimentarius" sounds like it could be a product meant only for women, but it's actually an international "food code" developed by FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) and WHO (World Health Organization).

The Codex Alimentarius Commission recently issued a new set of guidelines for defining gluten-free. "The new benchmark dictates that food labeled gluten-free may not contain wheat, rye, barley or oats, and its gluten level may not exceed 20 milligrams per kilogram," states a July 1, 2008 Reuters item.

This represents a significantly more stringent standard for many countries, according to Nancy Lapid, celiac disease specialist at About.com and recent table companion of mine at a dinner hosted by Mary Waldner and Dale Rodrigues of Mary's Gone Crackers.

It is up to individual countries to come up with their official standards, but there is probably good reason to think that many of them will comply with this stricter definition.

Dietitian Tricia Thompson commented on the draft of the revision here.