Breastfeeding Benefits & Barriers: Other Advantages

Research on the long term effects of breastfeeding on the health of the mother and the infant continue. Below are some diseases where breastfeeding appears to have a protective effect:

1. Sudden infant death syndrome
2. Diabetes mellitus
3. Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis
4. Lymphoma
5. Celiac Disease
6. Elevated Cholesterol level in adults

AAP Breastfeeding, 2005 , Lawrence, 1997

Recent work on populations which are susceptable to non-insulin dependent diabetes shows that breastfeeding is associated with a lower risk of later non-insulin dependent diabetes in the breastfed infant. Data from the Pima Indians in the United States found that exclusive breastfeeding for greater than 2 months was protective against the development of non-insulin dependent diabetes with an odds ratio of 0.41. In Native Americans in Canada, breastfeeding for longer than 12 months was protective for the later development of non-insulin dependent diabetes with an odds ratios of 0.24 ( Pettitt, 1997 , Young, 2002 ).

The Metabolic Syndrome is a group of metabolic abnormalities including insulin resistance, high triglycerides, low levels of high density lipoproteins, high blood pressure, and obesity. The Metabolic Syndrome is seen as a precursor of diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. The SWAN study evaluated 2516 perimenopausal women who had had at least one child. Women who had ever breast fed had a lower prevalence of the Metabolic Syndrome, adjusted Odds Ratio of 0.77 (95%CI, 0.62-0.96). The adjusted Odds Ratio for each year increase in total breastfeeding time on the prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome was 0.88 (95%CI, 0.77-0.99) ( Ram, 2008 ).

Work in Finland studying infants at risk for insulin dependent diabetes showed that these infants who had been breastfed exclusively for at least 4 months had a lower risk of developing islet cell antibodies in the first 4 years of life. Islet cell antibodies are precursors of insulin dependent diabetes. In both these cases, the protective effect of breastfeeding may be due to decreased exposure to cows milk proteins early in life ( Kimpimaki, 2001 ).

Celiac disease is associated with genetic susceptibility and environmental exposure to gluten (a protein found in wheat). Breastfeeding may also delay early exposure to gluten and delay onset of this disease ( Davis, 2001 ). A case control study of Swedish children diagnosed with celiac disease before 2 years of age, found that continued breastfeeding during the introduction of gluten containing foods was protective for the development of celiac disease compared to infants who were not breastfed when gluten containing foods were introduced, OR 0.59 (0.42-0.83). Longer duration of breastfeeding after the introduction of gluten containing foods was associated with additional protection from the development of celiac disease, OR 0.36 (0.26-0.51) ( Ivarsson, 2002 ).

Review of the literature on the effect of breastfeeding on cholesterol levels in children and adults reveals the following: breastfeeding is associated with increased average cholesterol and low density lipoprotein levels in infancy, no effect during childhood and adolescence, but lower average levels of these 2 substances in adults. Breastfeeding may have long-term benefits for cardiovascular health. This may be due to the early exposure of breastfed infants to cholesterol in human milk ( Owen, 2002 ).