Breastfeeding mums at less risk of diabetes

Nov 24 2005

New research shows that women who breastfeed longer have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

According to Dr. Alison M. Stuebe of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, she and her colleagues were prompted to examine the issue as various studies have suggested that breastfeeding affects women's metabolism and that metabolism, lactation, and reproduction are all linked.

In order to find any association between lactation duration and the development of type 2 diabetes, Stuebe and her colleagues analyzed data from two large groups of women who had given birth.

The first group included 83,585 women who were part of the Nurses' Health Study, and the second group included 73,418 women who were part of the Nurses' Health Study II.

The second group is apparently a younger group.

The researchers found that in the first 15 years after a woman's last delivery, each year of breastfeeding was associated with a 15-percent reduction in her risk of diabetes.

The analysis took into account diet, exercise, smoking status, whether or not the women took multivitamins, which is an indicator of whether women are health-conscious, and they still found a 15-percent benefit.

Stuebe says that beyond 15 years after the last birth there was less of a benefit, but for at least the first 15 years there seems to be some long-term association that protects women from diabetes.

She explains that pregnancy in some respects is a pro-diabetic state as the mother has more resistance to insulin, which is the way the body makes sure that the fetus acquires enough sugar.

Then lactation begins which to some extent is an anti-diabetic state.

The researchers' theorise that lactation resets the body after pregnancy and if a woman does not breastfeed for a prolonged period of time, the risk of diabetes might increase.

Stuebe says the findings provide more reasons to encourage women to breastfeed as it is good for babies and for mothers.

The research is published in the current edition Journal of the American Medical Association.