As many as 20,000 people, most of them elderly, die each year in the U.S. from flu complications, chiefly pneumonia. Actually, they are likely associating the flu shot with a coincidental illness caused by some other infection. The elderly and people with heart and lung disease, in particular, should get flu shots annually because they are among the people most at risk for possibly deadly complications. A woman's risk of bone fractures from osteoporosis later in life may also be reduced. Mothers who breastfeed also benefit from hormones released during breastfeeding.
Hormones also help mothers to relax and focus on their infants.
Many women who breastfeed report feeling a special closeness with their babies. While mothers benefit in many ways from breastfeeding, infants are the biggest beneficiaries. Other studies suggest breastfeeding may prevent a child from contracting diseases such as diabetes and lym- phoma. Asthma hospitalization and death rates have increased substantially during the last two decades, primarily among inner city youths, where asthma rates are higher. For children ages 5 to 14, asthma deaths nearly doubled from 1980 to 1993.