Current health policies recommend that women who are HIV
positive avoid or limit breastfeeding if other food sources are
available, since mothers can pass HIV through their breastmilk to their
babies.
However, new research suggests that exclusive breastfeeding may reduce
the rate of HIV transmission from mother to baby.
Researchers from the University of Natal in South Africa studied three
groups of HIV-positive mothers. One group of 157 mothers gave their
babies formula and did not breastfeed at all. A second group of 118
mothers exclusively breastfed for at least three months, while a third
group of 276 mothers combined breastfeeding and formula and other foods.
After 15 months, the exclusively breastfed babies had the lowest risk of
becoming HIV-positive of the three groups.
The researchers also found that after 6 months, the babies who were
never breastfed and the babies who were exclusively breastfed had about
the same risk of becoming HIV-infected. It was the babies who were fed a
combination of breastmilk and formula that had the highest risk rate
after six months.
The results were published in the February 16, 2001 edition of the
journal AIDS.
The researchers aren't sure why the babies who were fed a combination of
breastmilk and formula had the highest risk of getting HIV, but they
speculate that foods other than breastmilk may damage a baby's
intestinal tract, increasing the chances of infection. The researchers
agreed that more studies are needed to support their findings.
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