Breastfeeding for six months could reduce type 2 diabetes risk Scientists have discovered a big health benefit for women who breastfeed after analysing the results of a 30-year study on over 1,200 women.
It seems as if breastfeeding for six months or more may reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, the team from US healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente’s division of research has concluded.
In fact, the team found that breastfeeding for six months or more cut a woman’s chances of getting the disease by almost half (47%), compared to those who hadn’t breastfeed at all.
And, those participants who breastfed for less time than six months still had a 23% reduction in diabetes risk.
We found a very strong association between breastfeeding duration and lower risk of developing diabetes, even after accounting for all possible confounding risk factors,’ said lead author Dr Erica P. Gunderson in a release.
The new findings, which were published in the JAMA Internal Medicine journal, add to previous research suggesting that breastfeeding may offer health benefits to both mother and child, including lowering a woman’s risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers.
Gunderson added: ‘The incidence of diabetes decreased in a graded manner as breastfeeding duration increased, regardless of race, gestational diabetes, lifestyle behaviours, body size, and other metabolic risk factors measured before pregnancy, implying the possibility that the underlying mechanism may be biological.’
The team believe that the hormones involved in lactation may have an influence on the cells controlling insulin levels, thereby affecting blood sugar levels.