New research suggests that mothers who breastfeed their children for at least one month are less likely to develop type 2 diabetes later in life than those who have never nursed.
The findings, published in the September issue of the American Journal of Medicine, confirm results of earlier studies suggesting a link between breast-feeding and diabetes. But unlike the other studies, which looked at longer durations of breast-feeding, the new study indicates that nursing for as little as one month can make a difference.
The study included more than 2,200 women between the ages of 40 and 78. Of those, 56 percent had ever breastfed. Researchers found that women who breastfed all of their children for at least one month developed diabetes at about the same rate as women who had never given birth. But mothers who had never breastfed were almost twice as likely to develop diabetes. The link was there even after controlling for factors such as family history of diabetes, body mass index and level of physical activity.
Lead author Dr. Eleanor Bimla Schwarz of the University of Pittsburgh told Medical ID wearers that the association appears to be related to belly fat. "Our study found that moms who hadn't breastfed had significantly larger waist circumferences," she said. "Prior work has shown that the bigger your waist, the higher your risk of diabetes."
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