Feeding in Infancy and the Risk of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus in Finnish Children

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Abstract
In a case—control design the feeding in infancy of newly diagnosed 7‐ to 14‐year‐old diabetic children (n = 426) was compared with that of age‐ and sex‐matched non‐diabetic children (n = 426) randomly selected from the Finnish population registry. All 7‐ to 14‐year‐old diabetic children diagnosed from September 1986 to the end of April 1989 from all hospitals which treat diabetic children in Finland were invited to participate in the study. Breast‐feeding was initiated in almost all children, but during the birth years of this study population (1972–1982), an increase was observed in the duration of breast‐feeding (whether alone or in combination with supplementary feeding) and in the age of introduction of supplementary milk feeding. The risk of Type 1 diabetes was decreased in the children who were totally breast‐fed for at least 2 months (odds ratio (OR) 0.64, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.42–0.98) or 3 months (OR 0.67, 95% CI 0.48–0.95) or exclusively breast‐fed for at least 2 months (OR 0.60, 95% CI 0.41–0.89) or 3 months (OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.43–0.93). Those children who were younger than 2 months (OR 1.54, 95% CI 1.08–2.18) or 3 months (OR 1.52, 95% CI 1.11–2.08) at the time when supplementary milk feeding was begun had an increased risk of Type 1 diabetes. These associations remained significant after adjusting for the mother's education. The results suggest that early infant feeding patterns are associated with the risk of Type 1 diabetes developing at the age of 7 to 14 years.