summary: It is well known that women are more frequently affected by MS, suggesting that sexual hormones play a part in the development of inflammatory-demyelinating reactions occurring in the central nervous system of people with MS. It is also known that during pregnancy, the rate of relapses tends to be strongly reduced in women with MS, again suggesting an important role of sexual hormones in this condition. The authors of this work have shown that exclusive breastfeeding for at least the first two months after giving birth would protect against further relapses in at least the following year postpartum. The authors suggest that this protection against relapses may be due to the lack of menstruation while breastfeeding.

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authors: Langer-Gould A, Huang SM, Gupta R, Leimpeter AD, Greenwood E, Albers KB, Van Den Eeden SK, Nelson LM

source: Arch Neurol. 2009 Jun 8

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category: Epidemiology

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