A new Swedish study found that breastfeeding for more than a year halves a woman's risk of rheumatoid arthritis, while taking the contraceptive pill didn't lower the risk, even though the pill was expected to protect against it because it contains hormones that rise in pregnancy.
In the study at Malmö University Hospital, women who breastfed for more than a year had half the risk of non-breastfeeding women, and those who breastfed for less than a year had a 25% lower risk. That is one more reason for mothers to breastfeed.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease of the joints. It damages them and, in the long run, can cause loss of function and movement and change their shape. The study was published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases in May 2008.
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