Study Shows Mongolian Children Should Not Be Breast-Fed Past One Year of Age
A recent study conducted by U.S. and Mongolian urologists points to several reasons for the high occurrence of urinary tract stones in Mongolian children.
After working together on the problem for several years, Dr. Gotov Erdenetsetseg of the Maternal and Child Health Research Center in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and Dr. Terry Allen of William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, discovered that Mongolian women breast-feed their children for an excessive period of time. This causes the kidneys to make excessive amounts of ammonia.
The study shows that the dietary problem peaks when the children are between 1.5 and three years of age, as they stop breast-feeding and begin eating meat. At this point, the level of ammonium acid urate in their bodies may reach as high as 15 times the normal saturation.
After analyzing 98 urinary tract stones taken from Mongolian children, the doctors discovered that 72 percent of them contained ammonium acid urate. From the results of stone and urine analysis and detailed medical and dietary histories of Mongolian patients, the doctors were able to come up with their conclusions and make the appropriate recommendations to the families.
The authors of the study suggest that Mongolian children should not be breast-fed past one year of age and that their diet should be supplemented with cow's milk, which has a higher phosphorous content. The children should also be given more vegetables and fruits.
These measures should help prevent urinary tract stones from forming in the first place. The authors of the study are currently looking at ways to help Mongolian families make the necessary changes in the diets of their children.