Countless studies support the idea that breastfeeding is the best possible food for a baby. The focus of attention has always been on the benefits it brings to the newborn.
Although breastfeeding is a free and optional practice, it not only helps the little ones, but also has multiple advantages for the mother, according to a study published by the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
The research has built on data from a previous study , CARDIA, which had carried out 30 years of follow-up on cardiovascular disease . This study focused on the risk factors for these ailments, with the help of a sample of 5,000 adults between 18 and 30 years of age.
In Gunderson’s project, women who breastfed for six months or more had an approximate 47% reduction in the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Women who breastfed for a shorter period, on the other hand, had a reduction of 25%. % in risk of diabetes.
The benefits of breastfeeding
This new data adds to a long list of benefits that have been discovered so far about breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding has a multitude of protective effects for both the mother and her offspring , such as reducing a mother’s risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer (it is estimated that for each year of breastfeeding it is reduced by one 4.3% risk of suffering from any of these).
“This new study showing that mothers who breastfeed for months after giving birth can cut their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by up to half as they age. This is another reason that doctors, nurses, and hospitals as well how policy makers should support women and their families to breastfeed as long as possible . ” assures another of the researchers.
The incidence of diabetes decreased gradually as the duration of breastfeeding increased, regardless of the origin of the women, gestational diabetes (that which some women develop due to pregnancy), lifestyle behaviors, body size and others metabolic risk factors measured before pregnancy.
According to experts, this implies the possibility that the underlying mechanism of this protection is of biological origin .
‘Lactation Duration and Progression to Diabetes in Women Across the Childbearing Years’. Erica P. Gunderson, PhD, MPH, MS1; Cora E. Lewis, Ying Lin, et al. Mike Sorel; Myron Gross, Stephen Sidney, David R. Jacobs Jr, James M. Shikany, Charles P. Quesenberry Jr. JAMA Intern Med. Doi: 10.1001 / jamainternmed.2017.7978
