Background: Prior studies suggest that prenatal per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposures are associated with shorter breastfeeding duration. Studies assessing PFAS mixtures and populations in North America are sparse.
Methods: We quantified PFAS concentrations in maternal plasma collected during pregnancy in the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study (2010-2017). Participants completed standardized breastfeeding surveys at regular intervals until weaning (n = 813). We estimated associations between mixtures of 5 PFAS and risk of stopping exclusive breastfeeding before 6 months or any breastfeeding before 12 months using probit Bayesian kernel machine regression. For individual PFAS, we calculated the relative risk and hazard ratio (HR) of stopping breastfeeding using modified Poisson regression and accelerated failure time models respectively.
Results: PFAS mixtures were associated with stopping exclusive breastfeeding before 6 months, primarily driven by perfluorooctanoate (PFOA). We observed statistically significant trends in the association of perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS), PFOA, and perfluorononanoate (PFNA) (p-trends≤0.02) with stopping exclusive breastfeeding. Participants in the highest PFOA quartile had a 28% higher risk of stopping exclusive breastfeeding before 6 months compared to those in the lowest quartile (95% Confidence Interval: 1.04, 1.56). Similar trends were observed for PFHxS and PFNA with exclusive breastfeeding (p-trends≤0.05). PFAS were not associated with stopping any breastfeeding before 12 months.
Conclusions: In this cohort, we observed that participants with greater overall plasma PFAS concentrations had greater risk of stopping exclusive breastfeeding before 6 months and associations were driven largely by PFOA. These findings further support the growing literature indicating that PFAS may be associated with shorter duration of breastfeeding.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheh.2024.114359 | DOI Listing |
Int Breastfeed J
December 2024
Department of Community and Family Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bathinda (Punjab), Bathinda, 151001, India.
Background: Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) is defined as feeding infants only breast milk of the mother or a wet nurse for the first six months, without additional food or liquids except the oral rehydration solution or drops/syrups of vitamins, minerals or medicines. The working status of women in developed countries adversely affects the EBF rates, which calls for an assessment in rapidly developing countries like India. Therefore, the primary aim of the present study is to determine the prevalence of EBF using the data from the National Family Health Surveys (NFHS 3, 4, 5) conducted between 2005 and 06, 2015-16 and 2019-21 to estimate the likelihood EBF according to mothers' employment status.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Int Med Res
December 2024
Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences, Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Amman, Jordan.
Objective: Breastfeeding is associated with improved health outcomes in infancy and throughout adulthood as breast milk encompasses diverse immune-active factors that affect the ontogeny of the immune system in breastfed (BF) infants. Nevertheless, the impact of infant feeding on the immune system is poorly understood, and a comprehensive understanding of immune system development in human infants is lacking. In this observational study, we addressed the effects of different infant feeding approaches on cell populations and parameters in the peripheral blood of infants to gain insight into the innate and adaptive arms of the immune system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
December 2024
Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave. SOC107, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA.
Milk anti-inflammatory compounds are ubiquitous in milk but vary greatly within and between populations. The causes of this variation and how this variation impacts infant phenotype is not well-characterized. The goal of this study was to explain how maternal characteristics across two disparate populations impact the levels of TGF-β2 and IL-1ra in human milk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
December 2024
Department of Public Health, Adama Hospital Medical College, Adama, Ethiopia.
Background: A minimum acceptable diet for children aged 6-23 months is limited globally, with Ethiopia's proportion reducing to one in nine. This study was aimed to assess the prevalence of the minimum acceptable diet and associated factors among children aged 6-23 months in Dera town, Oromia, Ethiopia.
Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted.
Gut Microbes
December 2025
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Establishment of the gut microbiota during infancy is critical for host health with long-lasting implications. In this orchestrated process, microbial assembly is influenced by an increasing number of genetic and environmental factors, among which breastfeeding is considered as one of the most significant drivers for infant gut microbiota development. As the optimal diet for the infants, maternal milk provides numerous nutritional, microbial, and bioactive components to ensure the most adequate microbial growth and development of a 'healthy' gut microbiota during early life.
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