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Last Updated: Apr 17, 2008 - 4:27:51 PM |
THURSDAY April 17, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- It appears that mothers taking certain seizure medications may breastfeed their babies without a risk of harming their children’s cognitive development, according to a new study.
The study showed breastfed children whose mothers were on an anti-epilepsy drug received a test score of 98.1 compared to a score of 89.5 for the children not breastfed.
Kimford Meador, MD, with the University of Florida at Gainesville and colleagues presented the results today at the American Academy of Neurology 60th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Chicago, April 12–19, 2008.
"Our early findings show breastfeeding during anti-epilepsy drug treatment doesn't appear to have a negative impact on a child's cognitive abilities," said Meador, MD, who is Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology.
But Meador cautioned that "more research is needed to confirm our findings and women should use caution due to the limitations of our study."
For the study, Meador and colleagues tested the cognitive development of 187 two-year-old children whose mothers were taking the epilepsy drugs such as lamotrigine, carbamazepine, phenytoin, or valproate. Of the children, 41 percent were breastfed.
The breastfed children were found to have higher cognitive test scores than those children who were not breastfed, and this trend was consistent for each anti-epilepsy drug.
Specifically, those who were breastfed received an average test score of 98.1 compared to a score of 89.5 for the children not breastfed. But the difference was not significant after adjusting for the mother’s IQ.
The results suggested that the higher scores in children who were breastfed were due seemingly to the fact that their mothers had higher IQs.
Previous animal studies showed some anti-epilepsy drugs can cause cells to die in immature brains, but the adverse effect may be blocked by beta estradiol, sex hormone in the mother, Meador said.
"Since the potential protective effects of beta estradiol in utero are absent after birth, concern was raised that breastfeeding by women taking anti-epilepsy drugs may increase the risk of anti-epilepsy drug-induced cell death and result in reduced cognitive outcomes in children."
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