Breastfeeding Improves Long-Term Health Outcomes

Breastfeeding Improves Long-Term Health Outcomes

A new study examining the long-term effects of breastfeeding has found that it may reduce the risk of serious health problems. Researchers from Harvard Medical School and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, with support from the WK Kellogg Foundation, examined the relationship between breastfeeding and health conditions in women, including breast cancer, heart attacks, hypertension, premenopausal ovarian cancer, and type 2 diabetes. The paper, “Infant Feeding in America: Enough to Break a Mother’s Heart?,” was published in the October 2013 issue of Breastfeeding Medicine. The findings indicate that women who breastfeed their babies for the recommended 1 year after birth significantly reduce their risk of heart disease and breast cancer.

Led by Eleanor Bimla Schwarz, MD, MS, an associate professor of medicine, epidemiology, and obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive services at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, this meta-analysis sought to better understand the role of lactation as it relates to women’s health—specifically the risk of heart disease. While diet, exercise, avoiding tobacco, and blood pressure control are all key to maintaining cardiovascular health, data reveal that mothers who do not breastfeed, or prematurely discontinue the practice, are at increased risk of visceral adiposity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and subclinical cardiovascular disease, as well as cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Lactation, it is believed, resets maternal physiology and helps a woman’s body recover from birth.

“Breastfeeding has really important effects on a mother’s health,” Schwarz told attendees at the International Meeting of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine in Philadelphia last November, where the findings were presented.

Hygiene Connection E-Newsletter

January 2014