A surprising health benefit to breastfeeding has been discovered in a new study, and what is particularly interesting about it is the fact that even babies who were breastfed for only a few days enjoyed this benefit later in life. Here are the details.
Breastfeeding has many health benefits, and quite a few of them were discovered in recent years following studies that tracked babies during their first years of life and beyond. One such study just published its findings and noted a surprising health benefit associated with breastfeeding.
In this study, researchers discovered that breastfed babies were found to have lower blood pressure as toddlers, and what’s really interesting is that even babies who breastfed for only a few days enjoyed this health benefit several years later. According to the researchers, this advantage from their first days may accompany children into adulthood and contribute to their cardiovascular health as adults.
Studies have already shown that risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure, can appear as early as childhood. Other studies have already established the link between breastfeeding and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease in adulthood. What was not known, however, was how long a baby had to nurse in order to provide the child with this health benefit, and this is what researchers examined in the new study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
"This is the first study to try to gauge the link between breastfeeding in the first days after birth and high blood pressure in early childhood," said Dr. Cosetta Milico, of McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada and senior clinical researcher in the follow-up study. "Toddlers who had nursed and received even a small amount of primary breast milk, known as colostrum, had lower blood pressure at 3 years of age, regardless of how long they continued to breastfeed thereafter or if they were also given formula."
The Secret is Colostrum
Colostrum, the first breast milk secreted after birth, is known to have many health benefits as it contains growth factors, immune compounds and stem cells - all of which are extremely beneficial to the health of babies and are found exclusively in human breast milk.
In their study, the researchers relied on data from the large Canadian cohort study known as CHILD in which more than 3,000 children participated.
The researchers used data collected between 2009-2012, but the study continues today to monitor the health of children participating in it to understand how early life experiences shape and affect health. The researchers used information about feeding the babies found in the records of the hospitals in which they were born, as well as reports from parents of 2,400 children, responding to questionnaires.
Ninety-eight percent of the children in the study breastfed for a period of time, including 4% who received "early and limited breastfeeding" that was defined by the researchers as a few breastfeeds only during their hospital stay after birth. Only two percent of the children in the study were not breastfed at all. Of the children who were breastfed, 78% nursed for six months or more, and 62% only received nutrition from nursing for their first three months.
Tests conducted at age 3 found that children who had never breastfed had higher blood pressure (mean 103/60) than children who nursed for some period (average 99/58). Even among children who only breastfed, during postpartum hospitalization, the mean blood pressure was lower (99/57). The researchers also found that the blood pressure of breastfed infants was lower regardless of their BMI at age 3 and that factors such as social, health and mother’s lifestyle choices didn’t affect blood pressure.."The health benefits of exclusive and long-term breastfeeding are well documented and backed by studies, such as reduced risk of respiratory diseases, diarrheal diseases in infancy and also chronic conditions such as asthma and obesity later in life. What our research suggests is that the connection to the effects of cardiovascular problems like high blood pressure for example is that "breastfeeding for a short period of time also has an advantage," said Dr. Megan Azad, one of the senior researchers in the study.
Azad added that "our findings suggest that colostrum is a critical component in shaping developmental processes in the postpartum period. Therefore, along with encouraging long-term breastfeeding, it’s crucial to understand and emphasize that 'every drop affects', especially in the early days of the baby."
According to her, it’s especially important that hospitals allow mothers to have access to breastfeeding counseling immediately after birth and aren’t released too soon. The short-term savings in financing a longer hospital stay for maternity and the assistance of certified breastfeeding consultants offset what will be spent on medical treatment for cardiovascular disease in the future.