Are you a mother that is reluctant to exclusively breastfeed your baby? Well, a medical expert. Professor Jerome Elusiyan, says early and sustained breastfeeding may be protective against the development of diabetes mellitus in children.
Elusiyan said this in an inaugural lecture entitled Too Little and Too Much: ‘Unraveling The Mystery and Misery of Endocrine Disorders in Children’ he delivered at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State.
Elusiyan, a consultant paediatric endocrinologist, said an early and sustained breastfeeding is protective in children that are genetically predisposed to having Type 1 diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes is the form that is typically seen in children, while type 2 diabetes occurs more in adults, and is associated with obesity.
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Although in the western world, type 2 diabetes is now seen often in children due to the increased burden of obesity.
The expert said although much still needed to be learnt about the causes of type 1 diabetes in children, exposure to environmental triggers like rotavirus and early exposure to cow milk can increase the chances of some children developing type 1 diabetes.
Elusiyan said: “The question that has bugged endocrinologists for many years is why type 1 diabetes is not as common in the West African population as among the eastern and northern African people.
“My gut feelings are two. First is the early exposure of our children to many kinds of allergens as they grow up in the dirty environment, eating all sorts that may stimulate their immunity early and protect them against autoimmunity.
“Second is the possibility of our children dying from several of the plaguing communicable and infectious diseases and thereby not making them survive to develop diabetes.
“Why I feel so strongly about this is the fact that Scandinavian countries like Finland and Norway, with the lowest mortality rate among their infants and under-fives are the countries with the highest prevalence of Type 1 diabetes.
“Additionally, the practice of early and sustained breastfeeding in our region may also be protective against the development of diabetes mellitus.”
Professor Elusiyan, however, said the non-availability of insulin, dietary management and needle phobia are the most significant challenges to the management of Type 1 diabetes in Nigerian children.
According to him, treatment of Type 1 diabetes revolves around the administration of insulin but the cost of a vial of insulin ranges between 3,500 and 5000 naira and can only last maximum of three weeks in children of adolescent age.
He warned that making the children adapt to dietary prescription and the fear of needles for injection of insulin and for blood glucose monitoring had in no small way prevented optimising care of children with diabetes.
Elusiyan, also the chairman Medical Advisory Committee, Obafemi Awolowo University/Teaching Hospital Complex, Ile-Ife, called on the Nigerian government to urgently begin compulsory nationwide newborn screening for endocrine and metabolic conditions in the country.
He canvassed for government offering free treatment for children with chronic diseases like diabetes, goitre, Graves disease and other endocrine and metabolic conditions.
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