Findings on how long a woman needed to breast-feed to obtain benefit varied from study to study and thus topic to topic. For example, infants who were breast-fed at least six months had the reduced risk of childhood leukemia. The asthma results specified at least three months exclusive breast-feeding. There was little consistency simply because each of the studies being analyzed had its own duration.

The report was written at the request of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's Office on Women's Health but was released without fanfare and gained very little national attention when it came out in April. Public health officials recently were quoted by the Washington Post as saying they were instructed not to send out a press release or call attention to the report at the behest of officials who did not want to upset infant formula manufacturers. Similar allegations have been raised regarding a "toned down" public-health ad campaign promoting breast-feeding benefits, the Washington Post also reported.

The AHRQ breast-feeding analysis is online at ahrq.gov/clinic/tp/brfouttp.htm#report.

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E-mail: lois@desnews.com