Barcelona, Spain, Friday 15 June 2007: Breast feeding for a period of thirteen months or more has been shown to reduce the mother’s the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to new data presented today at EULAR 2007, the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology in Barcelona, Spain. In the study, the longer the breast feeding period, the lower the mother’s risk of developing RA in later life. Comparable use of oral contraceptives (OCs) or hormone replacement therapy (HRT) did not show a significant effect on the risk of developing RA.
