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By Lucy Williams, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent
ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- The secret to slimmer kids could be what they eat during infancy. Breastfed babies are less likely to become obese children.
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Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health studied 15,000 children between ages 9 and 14. The children who were breastfed during the first year of life were slimmer than those given formula during the same period. The study suggests breastfed babies develop healthier eating habits as they get older.
"With breastfeeding, the infant stops eating naturally when full. With bottle-feeding, there is a tendency to push to finish the bottle, potentially overfeeding the infant and teaching the infant not to stop eating when full," study leader Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, Ph.D., of University of South Carolina in Columbia, told Ivanhoe.
Overfeeding infants could instill bad eating habits at an early age.
She also told Ivanhoe the nutritional composition of breast milk is different than that of formula. Those differences could help babies grow into healthier adults, regardless of whether or not the mother is diabetic or obese.
A previous study suggested mothers with diabetes should not breastfeed because their children would develop poor glucose tolerance. This larger study contradicts that notion. Researchers recommend all women breastfeed to ensure their babies develop healthy eating habits.
Dr. Mayer-Davis said, "Anything we can do to reduce risk for childhood obesity, particularly among children who are otherwise at high risk, like children of mothers with diabetes or who are overweight, may be important to improving the weight of children."
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: Ivanhoe interview with Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, Ph.D., R.D., University of South Carolina; Diabetes Care, October 2006
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