BREAST-FEEDING
Mother’s milk has sustained the human species for countless generations. Breast milk is high in substances that confer natural immunity on the developing infant and protect against infection and disease. Breast-feeding also confers protection for the mother. See AIDS, Chocolate, Microwave, Mochi, Pesticides, Prenatal Nutrition, Rice, Sea Vegetables, Skin Problems, Vegetarian Diet.
• Breast-feeding Reduces Ear Infections - Breast-feeding can drastically reduce the number of ear infections in babies for the first four months, according to a University of Arizona study.
“The longer you can breast-feed exclusively, the fewer the episodes of ear infection, but four months is the minimum for significant protection,” noted Dr. Burris Duncan, who directed the study. His findings showed that 56 percent of babies who nursed for four months or more had infections compared to 68 percent of babies who were not nursed.
Source: B. Duncan, “Exclusive Breast-feeding for at Least 4 Months Protects Against Otitis Media,” Pedriatrics; 91:867-72, 1993.
• Breast-feeding Lowers Lymphoma Risk - Breast-feeding can reduce the risk of certain cancers for both mother and child. Researchers from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Md., found that infants breast-fed more than 6 months had a lower risk of developing cancer in childhood, especially lymphomas. In this study, children who were formula-fed or breast-fed for less than 6 months had approximately twice the risk of getting some childhood cancers by age 15 as those breast-fed for longer than 6 months. They also had five times the risk of getting lymphoma. “Mother’s milk contains substantial antimicrobial benefits for infants, increasing their resistance to many infections and possibly protecting them from many diseases, including lymphomas,” researchers reported.
Source: “Breast-Feeding Linked to Decreased Cancer Risk for Mother, Child,” Journal of the National Cancer Institute 80:1362-63, 1988.
• Breast-feeding Promotes Mental Development - Children born prematurely who were breast-fed scored significantly higher on intelligence tests than those who did not. “Our evidence strongly suggests that human milk might have factors important to brain development,” noted Dr. Alan Lucas, director of the study and head of infant and child nutrition at the Medical Research Council’s Dunn Nutrition Unit in Cambridge, England.
On average, the children given breast milk scored eight points higher on a range of intelligence tests taken when they were eight years old.
Source: A. Lucas et al., “Breast Milk and Subsequent Intelligent Quotient in Children Born Preterm,” Lancet 339:261–64, 1992.
• Breast-feeding Lowers Breast Cancer Risk - In a Chinese medical study, researchers found that the longer the mother nursed, the less at risk she was of breast cancer. Mimi Yu, Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, studied more than 500 Chinese women with breast cancer in Shanghai and 500 healthy women. The women she studied on an average nursed their various children for a cumulative total of nine years, a common pattern in China. “We believe that long periods of nursing would have the same protective effect for American women,” Yu reported.
Source: “Breast-Feeding Linked to Decreased Cancer Risk for Mother, Child,” Journal of the National Cancer Institute 80:1362-63, 1988.
• Breast-Fed Children Smarter - Children who are breast-fed as babies are smarter and do better than kids brought up on bottled milk, according to a New Zealand study. In a study of more than one thousand children, researchers found that those who were breast-fed for 8 months or more tested between 35 and 59 percent higher in reading comprehension, mathematical ability, and scholastic ability when they were 10 to 13 years old.
Source: L. J. Horwood and D. M. Fergusson, “Breast-feeding and Later Cognitive and Academic Outcomes,” Pediatrics 101(1):E9, 1998.
• Attention Deficit Disorder Linked to Less Breast-feeding - In a case-control study of diet and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Purdue University researchers reported that children with ADHD were about half as likely to have been breast-fed as controls. The duration of breast-feeding was also significantly longer in ordinary children than those with this behavioral disorder characterized by inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. ADHD children were also found to have lower amounts of specific fatty acids, especially omega-3 fatty acids. These are found in vegetables, fruits, and other plant quality foods, as well as in fish and seafood.
Source: L. J. Stevens et al., “Essential Fatty Acid Metabolism in Boys with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 62:761-68, 1995.
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