Breast-Feeding Seen Not to Curb Childhood Obesity
Fri 17 October, 2003 15:22 BST

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Recent reports have suggested that
breast-feeding may lower the risk of children becoming overweight. Now,
however, data from two new studies do not support this. In one of the
studies, reported in this week's British Journal of Medicine, Dr. Cesar G.
Victora, at Universidade Federal de Pelotas in Brazil, and colleagues looked
at the body composition of a group of 18-year-old males. When the subjects
were infants, records were kept on how long they were breast-fed and the age
at which other foods were introduced. The investigators found that duration
of breast-feeding did not consistently affect overweight and obesity in
adolescence. In the second study, Dr. L. Li and colleagues at the Institute
of Child Health in London measured weight in relation to height -- the body
mass index -- of 2631 boys and girls, average age 8 years, for whom duration
of breast-feeding had been documented. Statistical analysis showed no
evidence that breast-feeding affected body mass index or obesity. "Secular
trends do not suggest a protective effect," Li's group adds "In both Britain
and the United States the incidence of breast-feeding has increased since
1990, but so has obesity." However, both teams of researchers recommend that
breast-feeding still be promoted, because of its other beneficial effects.

SOURCE: British Medical Journal, October 18, 2003.

--Julie Rosen, CD (DONA), LLLL

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