Breastfeeding lowers risk of cardiovascular, metabolic diseases in kids

Washington: A new study has found that young adults who were breastfed for three months or more as babies have a significantly lower risk of chronic inflammation associated with cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.

The research from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, shows that

birth weight and breastfeeding both have implications for children’s health decades later.

The researchers used data from the US National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, including parent surveys, and blood samples providing measurements of CRP.

These findings held up in a series of sibling models, in which one sibling was breastfed and the other was not. Such models provide improved confidence in the results by implicitly controlling for genetic factors for elevated CRP.

“These findings underscore the importance of a preventive approach but not limited to prenatal health care and postnatal breastfeeding support,” said Molly W Metzger, co-author of the study with Thomas W McDade, PhD, of Northwestern University.

The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.



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