Study Links Breast-Feeding To Mom's Diabetes Risk

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Researchers: Findings May Be Due To Metabolic Changes
POSTED: 4:23 pm EST November 22, 2005
Breast-feeding is the best way to give a baby important nutrition and health benefits. But the benefits extend to mothers, too.
New research suggests the longer mothers nurse, the lower their risks of developing type 2 diabetes.
Alison Cape has nursed her baby, Charlotte, since she was born nine weeks ago.
"I'm planning on breast-feeding until I can't do it any longer. I'm hoping to go for a full year," said Cape. "But as I work, you know, I'll go for as long as I can."
Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston tracked the health and breast-feeding practices of more than 150,000 women. Their findings are published in Wednesday's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"We looked specifically at women in the 15 years after they had their last baby, and we found that each year a woman breast-feeds reduced her risk of diabetes by 15 percent," said researcher Dr. Alison Stuebe.
Women who exclusively breast-fed -- meaning their baby got nothing but breast milk -- saw a greater health benefit than those who gave their babies breast milk and formula or food.
"Suppose that women do what pediatricians recommend, which is to breast-feed the child for a year," said Stuebe. "A woman has two children, she breast-feeds for two years. Our data suggest that she may reduce her risk of diabetes by nearly a third."
Researchers say the findings could be due to the metabolic changes a mother goes through when she breast-feeds.
"A breast-feeding woman uses up about 500 calories a day making milk for her baby. That's the equivalent of running about four to five miles a day," said Stuebe. "That's a lot of energy."
Breast-feeding also lowers a woman's insulin and sugar levels, which can help prevent diabetes.
But a Dartmouth Medical School doctor not involved in the study said the results may reflect the healthy lifestyles of women who breast-feed rather than the act itself.
As for Cape, she welcomed news of health benefits for breast-feeding mothers.
"It's just another incentive for people to keep breast-feeding, and it certainly ... reinforces my decision to do so," she said.
Stuebe urged health care professionals and the general public to support women who breast-feed, and not only because of the health benefits.
She said type 2 diabetes affects about 9 million women in the United States, using up about $1 of every $10 spent on health care. If more women breast-feed, that number could be reduced.
Study Abstract