Breastfeeding and risk of overweight and obesity at nine-years of age

Abstract

Whether breastfeeding is protective against the development of childhood overweight and obesity remains the subject of considerable debate. Although a number of meta-analyses and syntheses of the literature have concluded that the greater preponderance of evidence indicates that breastfeeding reduces the risk of obesity, these findings are by no means conclusive. The present study used data from the Growing Up in Ireland study to examine the relationship between retrospectively recalled breastfeeding data and contemporaneously measured weight status for 7,798 children at nine years of age controlling for a wide range of variables including, socio-demographic factors, the child's own lifestylerelated behaviours, and parental BMI. The results of the multivariable analysis indicated that being breastfed for between 13-25 weeks was associated with a 38 percent (p<.05) reduction in the risk of obesity at nine years of age, while being breastfed for 26 weeks or more was associated with a 51 percent (p<.01) reduction in the risk of obesity at nine years of age. Moreover, results pointed towards a dose-response patterning in the data for those breastfed in excess of 4 weeks. Possible mechanisms conveying this health benefit include slower patterns of growth among breastfed children, which it is believed, are largely attributable to differences in the composition of human breast milk compared with synthesised formula. The suggestion that the choice of infant feeding method has important implications for health and development is tantalising as it identifies a modifiable health behaviour that is amenable to intervention in primary health care settings and has the potential to improve the health of the population.

Breastfeeding and Complementary Food: Randomized Trial of Community Doula Home Visiting

“…Previous research suggests that even short-term breastfeeding is associated with a variety of positive health outcomes for infants, including reduced risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, 13 lower incidence of otitis media, respiratory tract infections, and gastrointestinal tract infections during infancy, 31 and lower rates of childhood obesity 8,32,33 and type 2 diabetes. 33,34 Additionally, delaying the introduction of complementary foods until infants are at least 4 months of age can prevent choking 14 and gastrointestinal problems 35 among young infants, and may reduce the risk for childhood obesity.…”

Unconditional Prenatal Income Supplement and Birth Outcomes

“…The benefits of breastfeeding, for both the developing infant [65][66][67][68][69] and the mother, [70][71][72][73][74] have been so clearly demonstrated that the US Surgeon General has called for action to support breastfeeding. 75 In our study, the increased breastfeeding initiation associated with HBPB was likely the result of information about the importance of breastfeeding sent with the monthly payment.…”

Longer Breastfeeding in Infancy Decreases Systolic Hypertension Risk in Young Adults

“…Some show no association [Ravelli et al, 2000;Leeson et al, 2001;Burdette et al, 2006;Holmes et al, 2010]. Others, however, indicate that infants who were breastfed (compared to non-breastfed), were breastfed longer (compared to breastfed shorter) and had been later introduced complementary food are less likely to be overweight and obese, and less likely to suffer from hypertension, dyslipidemia and diabetes [Ip et al, 2007;Parikh et al, 2009;Fall et al, 2011;McCrory & Layte 2012;Owen et al, 2002Owen et al, , 2003Owen et al, , 2008Martin et al, 2005]. This suggests that breastfeeding decreases the risk of metabolic syndrome and non-communicable disorders in childhood, adolescence and adulthood [Agostoni et al, 2013].…”