Breastfeeding shows a protective trend toward adolescents with higher abdominal adiposity

The question of whether breastfeeding has a protective effect against the development of overweight or obesity later in life remains controversial, especially during adolescence. The objective was to assess the relationship between breastfeeding and adolescents' body composition.

The HELENA study is a cross-sectional study involving 3,528 adolescents from 10 European cities. The outcome measures were body weight and height, subscapular skinfolds as well as waist circumferences. Breastfeeding, smoking status, and parental socioeconomic status were assessed by self-administered questionnaires. Dietary intake was recorded using two 24-hour recall surveys. Two adjustment approaches were used: i) covariance analysis adjusted for confounding factors (propensity score adjustment) and ii) multivariate quantile regression.

After adjustment, no significant associations were observed between breastfeeding and body composition parameters (BMI Z-score; sum of skinfolds; waist-to-height ratio). An adjusted quantile regression analysis showed a non-significant trend for a protective effect of breastfeeding toward the highest percentiles of adiposity in boys but not in girls. This is of particular interest with respect to the superiority of the waist-to-height ratio over waist circumference and BMI for detecting cardiometabolic risk factors.

This first European study, including a large set of factors influencing adolescents' body composition, showed a non-significant trend toward a protective effect of breastfeeding on highest percentiles of adolescent's abdominal adiposity.