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 Pediatricians recommend that mothers exclusively breastfeed infants
until they’re at least six months old because it can reduce babies’
risk of ear and respiratory infections, sudden infant death
syndrome, allergies, obesity and diabetes. Mothers are advised to
continue breastfeeding for at least one year, a practice that
previous research has linked to a lower risk of depression, obesity,
and certain cancers.
For the current study, researchers examined data on 1,238 mothers
without diabetes at the outset. Over the next 25 years, 182 women
developed diabetes.
Compared to women who didn’t breastfeed at all, mothers who nursed
babies for at least six months were 48 percent less likely to
develop diabetes.
“There could be greater health benefits for women from breastfeeding
than previously recognized,” said lead study author Erica Gunderson
of the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland,
California.
All of the women had at least one baby during the study, and most of
them did breastfeed.
Overall, 418 mothers, or 34 percent, nursed infants for up to six
months. Another 268 women, or 22 percent, breastfed for six to 12
months, and 230 mothers, or 19 percent, nursed their babies for a
year or more.
Among women who didn’t breastfeed at all, 10 of every 1,000
typically developed diabetes each year, the study found.
That dropped to fewer than 7 cases for every 1,000 people each year
for women who nursed babies for up to six months, and fewer than 5
cases for women who nursed up to one year and fewer than 4 cases for
mothers who breastfeed for longer.
A diabetes diagnosis after pregnancy was much more common among
women who developed a version of the condition known as gestational
diabetes while they were pregnant.
But longer periods of breastfeeding were still associated with a
lower risk of diabetes later on, even for women who did experience
gestational diabetes, researchers report in JAMA Internal Medicine.
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The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether
or how breastfeeding duration might impact the odds of developing
diabetes. Researchers also lacked data on how long women may have
breastfed exclusively or supplemented with formula or baby foods.
“When an infant consumes formula or food they take in less breast
milk than if they were consuming breast milk alone,” said Jennifer
Yourkavitch, a researcher at the University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill, who wasn’t involved in the study.
“A mother’s supply of milk will adjust to meet the diminished
demand,” Yourkavitch said by email. “If early weaning leads to a
shorter breastfeeding period, then that, according to this paper,
could increase one’s risk of developing diabetes.”
Even women who can’t breastfeed or choose not to can still take
steps to lower their risk of diabetes, noted Yukiko Washio, a
researcher at the University of Delaware who wasn’t involved in the
study.
“They can still work on losing weight via lifestyle modifications
and increasing physical activity as a prevention strategy,” Washio
said by email.
For women who can nurse and want to do this, longer paid maternity
leave and health benefits that include lactation support and
supplies can help them succeed and may translate into a lower
diabetes risk down the line, said Dr. Lori Feldman-Winter, a
researcher at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in Camden,
New Jersey.
“If a woman has one child and breastfeeds for longer than 6 months,
or has two children and breastfeeds both for a combined duration of
greater than 6 months, the protection is the same,” Feldman-Winter,
who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email.
“This is major news,” Feldman-Winter added.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2EMD5B6 JAMA Internal Medicine, online January
16, 2018.
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