Related Experiment Videos
Breast feeding and future health
Lene Schack-Nielsen1, Kim Fleischer Michaelsen
1Department of Human Nutrition and LMC Centre for Advanced Food Studies, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Frederiksberg, Denmark.
Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care
|April 12, 2006
Summary
Breastfeeding offers long-term health benefits, including improved cognitive function and protection against immune-related diseases. While individual effects may be small, breastfeeding is important for population health.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Public Health
- Immunology
Background:
- Breastfeeding is recognized for its immediate health benefits for infants.
- Long-term health outcomes associated with breastfeeding require ongoing investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the most relevant publications from late 2004 and 2005 regarding the long-term health effects of breastfeeding.
- To synthesize current evidence on how breastfeeding impacts health later in life.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review of scientific literature.
- Analysis of observational studies and meta-analyses published in 2004-2005.
Main Results:
- Consistent positive effects of breastfeeding on later cognitive function.
- Likely protection against immune-related diseases (type 1 diabetes, celiac disease, IBD, possibly cancer).
- Inconclusive evidence for allergic disease; associated with lower blood pressure and cholesterol, but not clearly cardiovascular disease or death; small protective effect against obesity.
Conclusions:
- Evidence supports long-term health benefits of breastfeeding beyond infancy.
- These benefits, while potentially small individually, are significant at the population level.
- Causality is difficult to establish due to the observational nature of most studies.