The protective effect of breastfeeding in regards to obesity has been well-established through numerous studies and reviews, but many people remain unaware of the connection. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in five preschoolers in the U.S. is overweight. With less than 5 percent of hospitals fully supportive of breastfeeding, according to the CDC, improving breastfeeding rates can be a way to significantly stem the tide of childhood obesity.
Evidence
A 2004 review in the "International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders" looked at nine studies and found that breastfeeding is protective against childhood obesity. The analysis also found that the longer the duration of the breastfeeding relationship, the more protection against obesity the breastfed infant got. In fact, a study in the "British Medical Journal" in 1999 found that at age 6, children who were breastfed for a full year during infancy were 72 percent less likely to be obese than kids who were not breastfed, while children who were breastfed for only three to five months had only a 33 percent lower risk of obesity.
Mechanisms
The specific reason breastfeeding confers protection against obesity remains unknown, but researchers have proposed a few potential mechanisms for the protective effect. One is the possible presence of specific factors in human milk that improve the health of the digestive tract. Breast milk changes composition as the baby grows, becoming lower in fat. This could encourage leanness in breastfed infants, which could continue into childhood and adulthood. Breastfed babies also learn to self-regulate their feedings, taking only as much as they need. These babies develop the neural patterns necessary to accurately recognize signs of fullness.
Maternal Obesity and Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding helps protect the baby from future obesity but also might confer a similar benefit on the breastfeeding mother. Breastfeeding burns up to 500 calories per day above what the mother needed to maintain her pre-pregnancy weight. Because of this extra calorie expenditure, a breastfeeding mother tends to return to her pre-pregnancy weight quicker than a formula-feeding new mother.
Considerations
While mothers of breastfed babies might be aware that nursing helps prevent obesity, it is common for breastfeeding mothers to express concern over their young infant's weight gain during the first few months of life. This occurs because breastfed babies often gain more weight than their formula-fed peers during the first two to three months of life. According to Kelly Bonyata, IBCLC, this is completely normal and the weight gain evens out by 8 to 12 months of age, when breastfed babies tend to become leaner than formula-fed infants.
References
- "International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders"; Breast Feeding and Childhood Obesity- A Systematic Review; S. Arenz, et al.; October 2004
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Hospital Support for Breastfeeding; August 2011
- La Leche League International; Breastfed Baby and Mom Both Winners in the Weight Loss Game; January 2002
- "British Medical Journal"; Breast Feeding and Obesity- A Cross-Sectional Study; R. vonKries, et al.; July 1999
- Kellymom.com; Is My Exclusively Breastfed Baby Gaining Too Much Weight?; Kelly Bonyata, IBCLC
- Kellymom.com; do Breastfeeding Mothers Ned Extra Calories or Fluids?; Kelly Bonyata, IBCLC
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