Duration of Breast-feeding and Adiposity in Adult Life

Abstract

Few studies have examined whether the duration of breast-feeding is associated with BMI in adult life. In the past, the heights and weights of infants and the duration of breast-feeding were routinely recorded at infant welfare clinics in Helsinki, Finland. Most infants in the city were taken to these free clinics. The Helsinki Birth Cohort comprises 13,345 people born in the city during 1934-1944; 84% were breast-fed. In 2001, a questionnaire was sent to members of the cohort asking about their weight and height. A random sample of 2003 men and women attended a clinic at which height, weight, and body composition were measured. We studied sibships that included 2 or more people from the cohort. There were 1823 subjects: 831 had completed the questionnaire; 129 had attended the clinic. We grouped the subjects according to duration of breast-feeding: 0-2 mo, 3-4 mo, 5-7 mo, and 8 mo or more. We compared siblings who were discordant for duration of breast-feeding. We found that a longer period of breast-feeding was associated with lower BMI at 1 y of age (P = 0.04 for a linear trend). This relation disappeared by the age of 7 y. People breast-fed for 5-7 mo had the lowest reported BMI at age 60 y, although this was not statistically significant; 8.8% more people breast-fed for 8 mo or more had reported BMIs that were overweight (25 to 30 kg/m(2)) compared with those breast-fed for shorter periods (P = 0.06). Breast-feeding for <2 mo or 8 mo or more was associated with an increased BMI and percentage body fat in later life, measured at the clinic (P = 0.08 and P = 0.03 for quadratic trends). We conclude that breast-feeding for <2 mo may be deleterious, possibly because of lack of exposure to protective factors in breast milk. Breast-feeding beyond 8 mo may be deleterious because mother's hormones in breast milk reset the infant's hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis.

Maternal diet, breastfeeding and adolescent body composition: a 16-year prospective study

“…36 In this study, subjects who were breastfed for more than 25 days had lower FM, but actual breastfeeding p25 days was not associated with body composition after adjustment. This highlighted there might be a duration-dependent effect of breastfeeding on FM and %BF of adolescents, consistent with recent evidence suggesting a longer period of breastfeeding was associated with lower BMI at 1 year of age, 37 and that breastfeeding remained a significant protective factor up to age 5 to 6 y. 38,39 Our results supported this hypothesis and suggested the inverse association between duration of breastfeeding and obesity might be a long term effect.…”

Predictors of Obesity in a Cohort of Children Enrolled in WIC as Infants and Retained to 3 Years of Age

“…Exclusive breastfeeding and/or longer duration of breastfeeding have been associated with decreased rates of childhood obesity in many but not all studies [20][21][22][23][24][25], although the mechanisms of action have not been clearly delineated. USDA mandated WIC breastfeeding support programs, which include peer counseling, are intended to increase breastfeeding initiation, exclusivity, and duration, and are an important component of the revised WIC program in NYS.…”

Risk factors for childhood obesity in a Greek paediatric population

“…In a systematic review by Arenz et al (20) which included 69 000 participants, the authors concluded that breast-feeding has a small, consistent, protective effect against obesity. More recently Table 2 Age distribution of overweight (OW), obesity (OB) and normal weight (N) among the study subjects: children randomly selected from eight primary and secondary schools from rural and urban areas of Thessaloniki, northern Greece Boys Girls OW (n 57) OB (n 42) N (n 99) OW (n 58) OB (n 48) N (n 106) O'Tierney et al (21) reported that breast-feeding for ,2 months might be deleterious and was associated with increased BMI. In another study, Moschonis et al (10) examined the effects of breast feeding on obesity in 2374 Greek children aged 1-5 years, concluding that children who were exclusively breast-fed were 0?49 and 0?54 times less likely to be overweight at 6 and 12 months of age, respectively, than children who were exclusively formula-fed.…”