Breast-Feeding May Lower Mom's Risk of Diabetes
By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Nov. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Breast-feeding your baby can cut your
risk of developing type 2 diabetes, new research shows.
"We found that breast-feeding is really good for mothers. Each year she
breast-feeds cuts the risk of type 2 diabetes by 15 percent," said study
author, Dr. Alison Stuebe, a clinical fellow in maternal fetal medicine at
Brigham and Women's Hospital, and an instructor at Harvard Medical School in
Boston.
Breast-feeding offers a host of health benefits for babies. Along with
providing optimal nutrition, breast milk also provides compounds that boost
babies' immune system and help protect against bacteria, viruses and
parasites, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In addition,
breast-fed children have lower rates of childhood illnesses and tend to be
leaner than their formula-fed counterparts.
And research has shown mothers benefit as well: Breast-feeding helps a
mother's body return to normal faster after pregnancy, according to the FDA.
Some studies have suggested that women who breast-feed for long periods of
time may have lower rates of breast and ovarian cancer.
But, no long-term studies had examined the effect of breast-feeding on
maternal risk of diabetes, Stuebe said.
Stuebe and her colleagues suspected breast-feeding might affect type 2
diabetes risk because it substantially changes a mother's metabolic
requirements, and research has shown that breast-feeding improves insulin
sensitivity and glucose tolerance.
The researchers used data from the Nurses' Health Study and the Nurses'
Health Study II, which together included more than 150,000 women who had
given birth during the study period. More than 6,000 of these women were
diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
After controlling for body mass index (BMI) -- because a high BMI is a known
risk factor for type 2 diabetes -- the researchers found that long-term
breast-feeding reduced a woman's risk of developing diabetes.
The risk was decreased by 15 percent for each year of breast-feeding for
women in the Nurses' Health Study, and by 14 percent for each year for those
in the Nurses' Health Study II, according to the findings, which are
published in the Nov. 23/30 issue of the Journal of the American Medical
Association.
Stuebe said the researchers weren't able to determine how breast-feeding
might offer some protection against diabetes, only that breast-feeding was
associated with a drop in the rate of type 2 diabetes.
However, she said, the researchers suspect that breast-feeding may help keep
blood sugar in balance, or "homeostasis."
Breast-feeding mothers burn almost 500 additional calories daily, according
to the study. That's equivalent to running about four to five miles a day,
Stuebe noted.
"If done for a year, it's not surprising that it might have an effect on how
the body takes care of insulin and glucose," she said.
Dr. Loren Wissner Greene, an endocrinologist at New York University Medical
Center in New York City, said the explanation for why women who breast-feed
for long periods may have lower rates of diabetes could be a simple one:
"The small weight changes from lactation can make a significant impact on
diabetes risk."
In fact, Wissner Greene said, the best advice for anyone to avoid type 2
diabetes is to maintain a healthy weight, and lose weight if you're carrying
excess weight.
Another potential explanation could be that women who breast-feed for a long
time are more health-conscious than other women, and may have a healthier
diet, may exercise more and do other health-promoting activities that could
reduce their diabetes risk.
Stuebe said the researchers tried to take lifestyle factors into account and
still saw an association between breast-feeding and reduced diabetes risk.
The bottom line, said Stuebe: "We're talking about an intervention that
doesn't cost anything, has no side effects and has other potential
benefits."
SOURCES: Alison Stuebe, M.D., clinical fellow in maternal fetal medicine,
Brigham and Women's Hospital, and instructor, Harvard Medical School,
Boston, Mass.; Loren Wissner Greene, M.D., endocrinologist, New York
University Medical Center, and clinical associate professor of medicine, New
York University School of Medicine, New York City; Nov. 23/30, 2005, Journal
of the American Medical Association
Copyright © 2005 ScoutNews LLC. All rights reserved.
Leanne Wynne
Midwife in charge of "Women's Business"
Mildura Aboriginal Health Service Mob 0418 371862
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