Proven again: mother's milk best

Proven again: mother's milk best

What our ancestors knew all along has been re-proven in the latest of numerous studies about breast feeding benefits. An American team from Harvard has now found that there is a positive correlation between the duration of breastfeeding and the protection gained from diabetes type 2.

Generally, a year of breastfeeding was found to show a 15% risk reduction in protracting the disease. Every successive year of breastfeeding added another 15% reduced risk

The results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association

The sample group for the research consisted of 157000 nurses whose responses to regularly conducted health queries formed the data. The questions pertained to the number of pregnancies they had, the duration of breastfeeding they did post pregnancy, the lifestyle they followed and their medical past.

The research comprised dual studies which ran for about 12 years. It was found that the first fifteen years following a birth was protected against diabetes on a high scale, after which the benefits could taper off.

Earlier researches have already hinted at a connection between breastfeeding and better tolerance of glucose and insulin, which directly reduces diabetic tendency. More breastfeeding brings on higher calorie burning which helps in stabilizing levels of blood sugar and increases sensitivity to insulin. The extra energy consumed in breastfeeding is responsible for the better response to insulin and glucose.

According to Dr Alison Stuebe, who led the team on the study, it has been suitably established that breastfeeding offers as many benefits for mothers as it does to infants. Some of them are reduced risk of cancer and osteoporosis. However, more data is required for delineating the exact hormonal process determining the effects. Traditional research has focused only on breastfeeding's effects on breast cancer.

Roopinder Brar, consultant to Diabetes UK, adds that women who deliver big babies or protract gestational diabetes in pregnancy are at higher risk of getting diabetes later. Again, more research is warranted before establishing that breastfeeding can help.

In America, despite recommendations from The American Academy of Pediatrics, few mothers breastfeed babies sufficiently. Data shows that in 2003, just 36% of infants were breastfed for about 6 months. As against the government's objective of 25%, only 17% were being breastfed till completion of their first year.

WHO recommends that infants be solely breastfed till 6 months and thereafter, with other solids till their second birthdays.

Type 2 diabetes affects around 9 million women in America today. The disease mostly afflicts overweight persons whose metabolism halts production of insulin, the regulator of blood sugar in the body. However, in lactating mothers, the dimensions were different from weight. The factors involved are definitely more complex and need to be explored, according to Dr. Stuebe.

As a step ahead, the research team is initiating a study to graph how differently a woman's metabolism deals with glucose and insulin, in the years following childbirth, depending on whether she breastfeeds or not.