Breastfeeding Protects Women from Metabolic Syndrome, a Diabetes and Heart Disease Predictor
ScienceDaily (Dec. 3, 2009) — Breastfeeding a child may lower a woman's risk of developing metabolic syndrome, a condition linked to heart disease and diabetes in women, according to a Kaiser Permanente study that was published today online ahead of print and will appear in the February issue of Diabetes, a journal of the American Diabetes Association.
Breastfeeding a child lowers risk by 39 to 56 percent (depending on the duration of breastfeeding) for women without gestational diabetes, and 44 to 86 percent (depending on the duration of breastfeeding) for women with gestational diabetes, researchers said. Investigators looked at durations that included 0-1 month of lactation up to greater than 9 months of lactation.
Previous research has shown that lactating women have more favorable blood levels of glucose and lipids within several weeks after delivery than women who were not lactating. Other studies have reported much weaker protective associations of breastfeeding with the presence of metabolic syndrome and diabetes in middle-aged and older women.
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