A study of 2,233 women aged 40 to 78 was led by Dr Eleanor Schwarz, from the University of Pittsburgh. Schwarz found that the women who did not breastfeed were nearly twice as likely to develop diabetes as the women who did breastfeed, and twice as likely as the women who never gave birth.
The idea behind the finding is that large amounts of fat can build up in the stomach area during pregnancy. Breastfeeding can help shift those pockets of fat around or help burn them off. Having a large amount of fat in the abdomen is considered one of the factors behind diabetes.
‘Diet and exercise are widely known to impact the risk of type 2 diabetes.
‘But few people realise that breastfeeding also reduces mothers’ risk of developing the disease in later life by decreasing maternal belly fat.’
Just one month of breastfeeding can lower a woman’s risk of diabetes by 10 percent. The longer she breastfeeds, the lower her chances become. High blood pressure and high cholesterol levels cold also be prevented by breastfeeding, researchers found. Mothers gain just as many health benefits as infants do from breastfeeding.
Our study provides another good reason to encourage women to breastfeed their infants, at least for the infant’s first month of life.
‘Clinicians need to consider women’s pregnancy and lactation history when advising women about their risk for developing type 2 diabetes’ added Dr Schwarz.
The World Health Organization recommends that mothers breastfeed exclusively for at least the first 6 months of life, and then continue breastfeeding along with adding additional foods for at least 2 years. – Summer, staff writer
Related Articles:
- 5 Reasons To Breastfeed A Toddler
- Health Experts Question Why More Women Don’t Breastfeed
- Breastfeeding Alone Could Save Lives And Money
I know that a lot of people consider breast feeding a form of contraception, but it’s not foolproof 🙂 I got pregnant while exclusively breastfeeding my oldest. It happens more often than people realize. I am a firm believer in breastfeeding and now that these test results have been released hopefully it will begin to encourage more and more women to take advantage of the benefits of breastfeeding.
I don’t mean to beat a dead horse, but seriously, when are we ever going to get past this:
“Mothers gain just as many health benefits as infants do from breastfeeding.”
No. No they do not. There are no benefits to breast feeding just like there are no benefits to breathing clean air. Those are biological norms. They are the baseline. Infants, AND mothers suffer health risks from artifical feeding, the same as people suffer health risks from polluted air. That sentence should read:
“Mothers suffer just as many health risks from artificial infant feeding.”