IMPACT OF BREASTFEEDING ON HEART DISEASE, DIABETES IN WOMEN

A new study by Kaiser Permanente has found that breastfeeding a child may lower a woman’s risk of developing Metabolic Syndrome by up to 86 percent. This condition is linked to heart disease and diabetes in women. The 20-year prospective study was published online on December 3rd and will appear in the February edition of Diabetes, a journal of the American Diabetes Association. Researchers measured all components of Metabolic Syndrome before pregnancy and after weaning in an ethnically diverse group of women of childbearing age. They found the protective association of breastfeeding was even stronger for women who had gestational diabetes during pregnancy. Metabolic Syndrome affects of to 37 percent of US women between ages 20-59, and is a clustering of risk factors related to obesity and metabolism that may predict future diabetes and heart disease during midlife and early death for women. To access the study online, go to http://dx.doi.org/10.2337/db09-1197