Breastfeeding History and Maternal Body Composition Indicators: A Scoping Review

Despite current breastfeeding recommendations often stating postpartum weight loss is a positive outcome of breastfeeding, the research evidence is inconsistent, which may be due to the simplicity of body weight measurement not accounting for body composition. This systematic scoping review aimed to describe the existing literature on breastfeeding history and maternal body composition indicators.

Through a literature search using the PubMed database, 1,581 abstracts were obtained, and 33 studies with 80,118 participants were included in this review. History of breastfeeding was often self-reported and evaluated not only as any or no history, but also as type (e.g., exclusive or mixed breastfeeding) and/or duration. Maternal body composition indicator measures include fat/adiposity, muscle, skinfold thickness and circumference which are indicators of body fat, as overall or at specific regions of the body. Approximately three quarters of studies evaluated body composition within three years postpartum, and the remaining evaluated up to 20 years post parturition. Among 29 studies that evaluated for statistical significance, the majority found null associations between breastfeeding and body composition. Most studies that did find statistically significant associations found inverse associations with fat/adiposity, skinfold thickness, and circumference measures assessed at least six months postpartum. Future studies should be conducted to evaluate body composition measured after six months postpartum and include measures of muscle composition.