Mitigation of cretinism by breast-feeding
1978
Bode, Hans Henning | Vanjonack, William J. | Crawford, John D.
Extract: An athyrotic infant had hypothyroidism at 1 year of age. He had grown at an above-average velocity until age 10 months when breast-feeding was discontinued, yet his bone age remained that of a newborn. These observations suggested that breast-feeding had attenuated hypothyroidism by providing significant quanitites of thyroid hormones in the milk. To test this hypothesis, thyroxine, 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine, and 3,3',5'-triiodothyronine were measured in breast milk samples collected serially from three months before to four months after delivery. Results indicate that breast-feeding may deliver sufficient thyroid hormones to the athyrotic infant to mitigate severe hypothyroidism and to prevent impaired neurological development.
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