The Long-Term Public Health Benefits of Breastfeeding

Binns, Colin; Lee, Mi Kyung; Low, Wah Yun

doi:10.1177/1010539515624964

Cited by 507 publications

(391 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Few studies have measured cardiovascular markers longitudinally from time of breastfeeding to menopause, and those that have are observational studies that are limited to self‐reported disease outcomes. In their review of the literature, Binns and colleagues state that current evidence suggests the beneficial effects of breastfeeding on chronic disease among mothers who breastfeed and infants who are breastfed 44. Without knowing the exact biological pathways of breastfeeding's protective effect, we do know that breastfeeding has few contraindications and that breastfeeding women tend to live healthier lives, so it should continue to be promoted for mothers and their infants.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Women who report more than 9 cumulative months of breastfeeding over their reproductive lifetime are less likely to develop hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and metabolic syndrome 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37. Further, evidence suggests that a longer duration of breastfeeding is associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus,38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43 and reduced maternal postpartum weight 44, 45, 46, 47…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Breastfeeding History and Risk of Stroke Among Parous Postmenopausal Women in the Women's Health Initiative

Jacobson

Hade

Collins

et al. 2018

JAHA

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BackgroundStroke is the third leading cause of death among US Hispanic and non‐Hispanic black women aged 65 and older. One factor that may protect against stroke is breastfeeding. Few studies have assessed the association between breastfeeding and stroke and whether this association differs by race and ethnicity.Methods and ResultsData were taken from the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study with follow‐up through 2010; adjusted hazard ratios for stroke subsequent to childbirth were estimated with Cox regression models accounting for left and right censoring, overall and stratified by race/ethnicity. Of the 80 191 parous women in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study, 2699 (3.4%) had experienced a stroke within a follow‐up period of 12.6 years. The average age was 63.7 years at baseline. Fifty‐eight percent (n=46 699) reported ever breastfeeding; 83% were non‐Hispanic white, 8% were non‐Hispanic black, 4% were Hispanic, and 5% were of other race/ethnicity. After adjustment for nonmodifiable potential confounders, compared with women who had never breastfed, women who reported ever breastfeeding had a 23% lower risk of stroke (adjusted hazard ratio=0.77; 95% confidence interval 0.70‐0.83). This association was strongest for non‐Hispanic black women (adjusted hazard ratio=0.52; 95% confidence interval 0.37‐0.71). Further, breastfeeding for a relatively short duration (1‐6 months) was associated with a 19% lower risk of stroke (adjusted hazard ratios=0.81; 95% confidence interval 0.74‐0.89). This association appeared stronger with longer breastfeeding duration and among non‐Hispanic white and non‐Hispanic black women (test for trend P<0.01).ConclusionsStudy results show an association and dose‐response relationship between breastfeeding and lower risk of stroke among postmenopausal women after adjustment for multiple stroke risk factors and lifestyle variables. Further investigation is warranted.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Breastfeeding History and Risk of Stroke Among Parous Postmenopausal Women in the Women's Health Initiative

Jacobson

Hade

Collins

et al. 2018

JAHA

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“…However, our results do not show that breastmilk itself contains pesticide residues and an alternative interpretation is that the period of a child's life when breastmilk is consumed may be a time of particular susceptibility to pesticides and other environmental toxins. Breastmilk is an important nutrition source for infants34 and breastfeeding has been associated with numerous health benefits,35 including a reduced risk of childhood acute leukemia among breastfed infants,36 and should never be discouraged. Practices and policies aimed at minimizing the use of pesticides while breastfeeding and during early childhood are warranted to protect children's health.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal residential pesticide use and risk of childhood leukemia in Costa Rica

Hyland

Gunier

Metayer

et al. 2018

Intl Journal of Cancer

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Evidence suggests that early‐life exposure to pesticides inside the home may be associated with childhood leukemia, however data from Latin American countries are limited. We examined whether self‐reported maternal residential pesticide use and nearby pesticide applications–before and after child's birth–were associated with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in the Costa Rican Childhood Leukemia Study (CRCLS), a population‐based case‐control study (2001‐2003). Cases (n = 251 ALL) were diagnosed between 1995 and 2000 (age <15 years at diagnosis) and were identified through the Costa Rican Cancer Registry and National Children's Hospital. Population controls (n = 577) were drawn from the National Birth Registry. We fitted unconditional logistic regression models adjusted for child sex, birth year, and socioeconomic status to estimate the exposure‐outcome associations and also stratified by child sex. We observed that self‐reported maternal insecticide use inside the home in the year before pregnancy, during pregnancy, and while breastfeeding was associated with increased odds of ALL among boys [adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR) = 1.63 (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.05–2.53), 1.75 (1.13–2.73), and 1.75 (1.12–2.73), respectively. We also found evidence of exposure‐response relationships between more frequent maternal insecticide use inside the home and increased odds of ALL among boys and girls combined. Maternal report of pesticide applications on farms or companies near the home during pregnancy and at any time period were also associated with ALL. Our study in Costa Rica highlights the need for education to minimize pesticide exposures inside and around the home, particularly during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

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“…It should be noted that infants do not show a circadian production of melatonin until they are 3-5 months old, which is about the time corresponding to the cessation of breastfeeding for many women, perhaps indicative of an adaptive response in infants that are no longer receiving melatonin from breast milk, or even an indicant that infants may not require melatonin until this age. However, in many non-Western cultures, breastfeeding is maintained until the infant is aged 1 year and above, indicating that the demands on women in Western culture are likely to underpin their earlier cessation of breastfeeding, rather than being an evolutionary derived process (1,8).…”

Section: Breastfeeding and Melatoninmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Breastfeeding affords protection against a wide variety of medical conditions that may emerge at different time-points over the lifespan, including hospital admissions for respiratory infections and neonatal fever (4,5), offspring childhood obesity and cancer (6), sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) (7), as well as an array of other medical conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, hyperlipidemia, hypertension and types 1 and 2 diabetes (8). Such an array of benefits seem partly mediated by the impacts of breastfeeding on processes regulating metabolism and thereby on the risk of offspring metabolic dysregulation and obesity (9).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Breastfeeding and the gut-brain axis: is there a role for melatonin?

Anderson¹,

Vaillancourt²,

Maes

et al. 2017

Biomolecular Concepts

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The benefits of breastfeeding over formula feed are widely appreciated. However, for many mothers breastfeeding is not possible, highlighting the need for a significant improvement in the contents of formula feed. In this article, the overlooked role of melatonin and the melatonergic pathways in breast milk and in the regulation of wider breast milk components are reviewed. There is a growing appreciation that the benefits of breastfeeding are mediated by its effects in the infant gut, with consequences for the development of the gut-brain axis and the immune system. The melatonergic pathways are intimately associated with highly researched processes in the gut, gut microbiome and gut-brain axis. As the melatonergic pathways are dependent on the levels of serotonin availability as a necessary precursor, decreased melatonin is linked to depression and depression-associated disorders. The association of breastfeeding and the gut-brain axis with a host of medical conditions may be mediated by their regulation of processes that modulate depression susceptibility. The biological underpinnings of depression include increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, oxidative stress, kynurenine pathway activity and dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis, all of which can decrease melatonergic pathway activity. The inclusion of the melatonergic pathways in the biological interactions of breast milk and gut development has significant theoretical and treatment implications, as well as being important to the prevention of a host of infant-, child-and adult-onset medical conditions.

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The Long-Term Public Health Benefits of Breastfeeding

Cited by 507 publications

References 42 publications

Breastfeeding History and Risk of Stroke Among Parous Postmenopausal Women in the Women's Health Initiative

Breastfeeding History and Risk of Stroke Among Parous Postmenopausal Women in the Women's Health Initiative

Maternal residential pesticide use and risk of childhood leukemia in Costa Rica

Breastfeeding and the gut-brain axis: is there a role for melatonin?

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