Long-term breast feeding good for kids

http://www.ediets.com/news/article.cfm/cmi_839764/cid_32

December 28, 2004

Stockholm (dpa) - A child's intellect is likely to benefit the longer it is
breast fed, a Swedish study suggests.

A child that is breast fed five months or more, is likely to cope well when
it is due to start school, according to a study by Swedish researchers Per
Gustafsson and Karel Duchen at the Regionsjukhuset hospital in Linkoping.

The researchers tracked 131 children born in Sweden between 1994 and 1997. A
group of 73 children - 29 girls and 44 boys - were monitored until age six.

The children benefited especially from the intake of essential fatty acids
omega-6 and omega-3, according to the study in the journal Acta Paediatrica,
quoted by Stockholm daily Svenska Dagbladet.

The acids are found in fatty fish and contribute to the brain's development
and protect the child's nerve cells.

Children who were breast fed a long time and were breast fed by mothers with
a high rate of fatty acids in their breast milk scored higher than others on
the six-year-old test given prior to their school start.

The researchers said socio-economic factors and genes of course had a key
role, but the length of breast feeding was also important.

The mothers' breast milk was tested immediately after they gave birth, as
well as one and three months later. Blood samples were twice drawn from the
children, who underwent an intelligence test at age six.


Copyright 2004 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH

Janice Reynolds
(considering the mention of the importance of DHA in this article, I wonder
if this research was done to educate the public and market for support for
the adding of the DHA supplements to formula?)

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