Breastfeeding May Lower Women’s Diabetes Risk

A study that included 2,233 women was conducted. The findings where that 27% of the women who did not breastfeed their baby’s developed type 2 diabetes.

While the remaining 73% who did breastfeed for at least one month and the women in the group who had never had any children are non-diabetics. The women’s ages ranged between 40 and 78 years old.

Eleanor Bimla Schwarz, M.D., M.S., assistant professor of medicine, epidemiology, and obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, said:

“We have seen dramatic increases in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes over the last century. Diet and exercise are widely known to impact the risk of type 2 diabetes, but few people realize that breastfeeding also reduces mothers' risk of developing the disease later in life by decreasing maternal belly fat.”


Woman who have never had any children are also less likely to develop diabetes. However, woman who have given birth and did not breastfeed have almost double the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

This news is based on a population study called “Lactation and Maternal Risk of Type 2 Diabetes. In an effort to target, specific groups of people who are at a high risk for developing type 2 diabetes.

Source: Eleanor Bimla Schwarz MD, MS, Jeanette S. Brown MD, Jennifer M. Creasman MPH, Alison Stuebe MD, MSc, Candace K. McClure PhD, Stephen K. Van Den Eeden PhD and David Thom MD, PhD
The American Journal of Medicine. Volume 123, Issue 9, September 2010, Pages 863.e1-863.e6
doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2010.03.016


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