Obesity And Breastfeeding Link
Written by Stuart Stevens | Thursday, 18 May 2006 | There are 0 comments
Ukmedix is examining research that shows that women who become diabetic while pregnant are likely to deliver big babies that may also trigger obesity when they grow up but that this process can be reversed if breastfeeding is encouraged. The study that was conducted in Germany was designed to examine the link between obese parents, diabetes, large babies and whether these babies went on to be obese. The study also looked at another external factor namely whether the children had been breastfed and whetehr this was significant. The study involved over three hundred children.
The study has been going on since 1995 and is now being completed now with the women being asked to go to the research clinic with their children at certain time intervals for them to be examined and weighed. The mothers were also asked detailed questions about diet habits and breast feeding patterns of the younger children.
In all nearly 3/4 of mothers said that they breastfed their children as babies and of these a third were breastfed up to three month of age and two thirds were breastfed for more than the three months.
Nearly a third of all the children in the study were deemed to be overweight and it was noted that when the length of time that the children were breastfed for was greater the more likely the child's BMI would be greater. Thirty seven percent of those that were not breastfed were were overweight compared to only 32 percent of those who were only breastfed to three months and 22 percent of children who were breastfed for over three months.
The results were analysed by the researchers and adjusted to take into account external factors and the conclusion was those children that were breastfed for over reduced the chances of being overweight as young children by as much as 50 percent. Interestingly the study also showed that women who had diabetes and who suffered from obesity were more likely not to breastfeed the children.
The researchers said that these results must be used to encouraged certain mothers to keep feeding their babies for more over 3 months.
