Breastfeeding is truly one of the most natural things in the world.
Breastfeeding offers many benefits to your baby. Breast milk contains the right balance of nutrients to help your infant grow into a strong and healthy toddler. Some of the nutrients in breast milk also help protect your infant against some common childhood illnesses and infections. It may also help your health. Certain types of cancer may occur less often in mothers who have breastfed their babies.
The study involved nearly 290,000 women in China who provided information on how many children they had, whether they breastfed and for how long. The researchers followed the women for nearly 10 years looking for heart diseases condition.
Women who breastfed their babies had a 9% lower risk of having heart disease during the study period compared to women who did not breastfeed. The effect seemed to be cumulative: Women who had more than one child and breastfed each of their babies for two years or more lowered their risk of heart disease by 18% and their risk of stroke by a similar amount, compared to mother who never breastfed. Even after the researchers adjusted for factors that can influence heart events, such as cholesterol levels, blood pressure, smoking, obesity and physical activity, the effect remained strong.
The finding only points to a strong association between breastfeeding and lower heart disease risk; it doesn’t imply that women who don’t breastfeed will necessarily develop heart problems.
More research is needed to clarify the link. But breastfeeding may affect heart risk by changing the metabolism of women after they give birth, says study co-author Sanne Peters, a research fellow in epidemiology at the University of Oxford in England. During pregnancy, the body accumulates and redistributes fat in an effort to ensure the developing baby has enough nutrients and to prepare to nurse the baby with breastmilk. Previous studies suggest that the accumulated fat is more efficiently lost during breastfeeding. “Women who don’t breastfeed essentially have metabolic reserves that they don’t need,” says Peters. That may contribute to more weight gain and raise risk factors for heart disease, such as atherosclerosis and cholesterol.
Women who don’t have health problems should try to give their babies breast milk for at least the first six months of life. Most women with health problems can breastfeed. There are rare exceptions when women are advised not to breastfeed because they have certain illnesses.
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