Can breast feeding prevent obesity in children?
According to a recent study the answer is YES!
A recent study published in the International journal of obesity, breast feeding reduces the risk of developing obesity in children whose mothers are diabetic.
Maternal diabetes during pregnancy is a known risk factor for childhood obesity. This study was done comparing the risk of childhood obesity in babies born to diabetic and non- diabetic mothers. Surprisingly in both the groups there was a decrease in incidence of obesity in children of both the groups when they were breast fed for a minimum of 6 months. These breast fed infants had recorded a much lesser growth of BMI compared to their counterparts.
This study involved 94 children of diabetic and 399 children of non diabetic mothers and were studied for a period of 13 years. Body Mass Index or BMI an indicator for childhood obesity was used.
This study has once again proved the vitality of mother's milk and also reiterated the importance of breast feeding upto atleast 6 months. This study also has proved that diabetic mothers can not only safely breast feed their infants but also decrease the incidence of obesity in their children and maybe future diabetes in them.!
0 comments:
Post a Comment