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 Breastfeeding has long been tied to health benefits for women,
including lower risks for heart disease, diabetes and certain
cancers. The current study focused on whether nursing might also be
tied to a reduced risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFDL),
which is usually linked with obesity and certain eating habits.
Researchers followed 844 women for 25 years after they gave birth.
Overall, 32 percent reported nursing for up to a month, 25 percent
said they breastfed for one to six months and 43 percent reported
nursing for longer.
By the end of the study, the women were 49 years old on average.
Fifty-four, or about 6 percent, had developed NAFLD. Women who
breastfed babies for at least six months were 52 percent less likely
to develop liver disease than mothers who nursed for less than one
month, researchers report in the Journal of Hepatology.
"This new analysis contributes to the growing body of evidence
showing that breastfeeding a child also offers significant health
benefits to the mother," said study leader Dr. Veeral Ajmera of the
University of California, San Diego.
"Future studies will be needed to assess if breastfeeding can
decrease the severity in NAFLD in women at high risk," Ajmera said
by email.
The women in the analysis were part of the larger Coronary Artery
Risk Development in Young Adults study. They were assessed when they
joined the study in 1985 and 1986, surveyed about breastfeeding with
any subsequent births, and then examined for fat in their liver at
the end of the study using computed tomography.
The study can't prove whether or how breastfeeding might stave off
NAFLD. It's possible that women who breastfed for longer periods had
healthier lifestyles that contributed to their lower risk of liver
disease, the study authors note.
In particular, women who got more exercise appeared to nurse for
longer periods, said Yukiko Washio of RTI International and the
University of Delaware, College of Health Sciences.
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"Recent evidence shows that physical activity helps improve fatty
liver disease," Washio, who wasn't involved in the study, said by
email.
Women are advised to breastfeed babies exclusively for at least six
months, and it's also unclear how much protection women might get if
they achieved a total of six months of nursing after breastfeeding
multiple children for shorter periods, said Dr. Lori Feldman-Winter
of the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in Camden, New
Jersey.
"Maintaining lactation through at least the first six months is
physiologically how the mother's body reprograms metabolism and
prevents chronic diseases," Feldman-Winter, who wasn't involved in
the study, said by email. "While obesity and diet also modify this
risk, the effect of lactation seems to be greatest and offers the
best potential to decrease the prevalence of fatty liver disease."
More research is needed to confirm the potential for breastfeeding
to help prevent liver disease, said Jennifer Yourkavitch of the
University of North Carolina, Greensboro.
"But there is a mountain of evidence supporting breastfeeding as
beneficial to women's and children's health and it should be
promoted and supported," Yourkavitch, who wasn't involved in the
study, said by email. "These findings give us another reason to do
that."
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2QN8s8l Journal of Hepatology, online
November 1, 2018.
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