LivingBreastfeeding reduces the mother's risk of long-term cardiovascular disease
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Breastfeeding reduces the mother's risk of long-term cardiovascular disease

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We know that breast milk is the best food we can give our baby during their first months of life, as it provides many benefits for their healthy growth and development, and also helps protect and reduce the risk of suffering from certain diseases. But the benefits of breastfeeding are not only for the baby, but also for the mother.

Through new research, we added yet another benefit of breastfeeding for mothers, as breastfeeding was found to reduce the mother’s risk of cardiovascular disease after menopause .

The results of the study, carried out by the University of Athens in Greece and which will be published soon, were released during the annual meeting of the European Endocrinology Society (ECE) held in France a few days ago.

In it, it was found that women who had breastfed their babies were less likely to develop heart disease in the long term , and that the longer they had breastfed, the lower the risk of suffering from it.

To reach this conclusion , the heart and blood vessel health of 283 women who were in menopause were analyzed , and measurements were made in relation to the amount of time they had breastfed, which ranged from one to 80 months.

After adjusting for factors such as their weight, age, cholesterol levels and other habits, they found that women who had breastfed had less arterial stiffness and atherosclerosis (a disease in which fat and cholesterol are deposited on the wall of the arteries) .

Researchers will continue to investigate to find out why this happens, but for now they believe that it is because during lactation there are higher levels of the hormone prolactin , which is thought to help reduce the risk of diabetes, a risk factor for diseases from the heart.

This is not the first study to find that breastfeeding helps reduce cardiovascular diseases , since a few years ago we shared the results of one carried out in China, which found that women who breastfed had a lower risk of heart attacks and stroke.

With these studies, we can continue to verify the benefits of breastfeeding not only in babies, but also in mothers, because in addition to helping to reduce postpartum depression and reduce the risk of breast cancer, breastfeeding helps improve the health of the baby. mothers heart .

Photo | iStock
Via | Healthline

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