It has been known for a while now that breastfeeding is extremely beneficial for babies.
Studies have also shown us that there are benefits for breastfeeding mothers but these studies have shown weak results for the protection of chronic diseases.
However, a recent study found a strong association between breastfeeding duration and a lower risk of developing diabetes in women throughout their childbearing years.
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Researchers analysed data for 30 years of the follow up of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study – a national multi0centre investigation on cardiovascular disease risk factors. This study originally enrolled 5000 adults from the ages of 18 to 30 years during 1985 to 1986. This included 1000 members from Kaiser Permanente Northern California – a healthcare facility.
The study included 1238 black and white women who did not have diabetes when they enrolled into CARDIA or before their subsequent pregnancies.
Over the next 30 years, the women had at least one live birth. They were screened routinely for diabetes as per CARDIA protocol which included diagnostic screening criteria for diabetes.
The women also reported lifestyle changes such as diet and exercise and the total amount of time they spent breastfeeding.
This was unlike other studies which relied on the self-reported onset of diabetes after pregnancy. In this study, the researchers could monitor women during their childbearing period and screen them for diabetes before pregnancy and after child birth.
After analysis of the data, researchers found that women who breastfed for six months and more had a 47 percent chance of a reduction in the risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those who did not breastfeed at all. Women who breastfed for six months or less had a 25 percent reduction in the risk of developing diabetes.
These results were similar for both black and white women and women with and without gestational diabetes.
Black women were three times as likely as white women to develop diabetes and black women who enrolled in CARDIA were also less likely to breastfeed than white women.
This study also took into account pre-pregnancy metabolic risk including obesity and fasting glucose and insulin, lifestyle behaviours, history of diabetes in the family and perinatal outcome.
Regardless of these factors including body size and race, the analysis showed that the incidence of diabetes decreases in a graded manner as the duration of breastfeeding increased.
This suggests that biological mechanisms are responsible for this protective effect such as the influence of lactation-associated hormones on the pancreatic cells that control blood insulin levels and thus impact blood sugar levels– one of the plausible explanations implied by the researchers.
Lactation is a natural biological process which has a profound effect on the health of babies and on mothers as shown in this study, implying that mothers need to be encouraged to breastfeed for a longer duration by the allocation of appropriate healthcare resources and incentives.
Source: JAMA Internal Medicine
