The journal Diabetes Care reported in March 2010 that Australian researchers had established women (age forty-five and above) were less likely to develop type 2 diabetes if they had breastfed their infants. Specifically, the fifty three thousand women tested showed the same odds of developing type 2 diabetes as did women who had never had children… this is in stark contrast with women who had breastfed their babies and who showed a fourteen percent reduction in the “diabetes risk”.
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Although these findings do not suggest that breastfeeding actually protects women against diabetes type 2 in later life, they do echo several earlier studies… according to University of Western Sydney researcher Dr Bette Liu.
“What’s new,” she reported, “is that the study also included childless women… and they were fifty percent more likely to develop diabetes type 2 than their counterparts who breastfed. In other words, while having children does increase the risk, feeding babies naturally reverses this.”
“Put slightly differently” Liu continued, “it appears that while having children increases the chances of women developing type 2 diabetes in later life, breastfeeding can restore this risk to the same level as that of women who have never had children.”
The fifty three thousand subjects were given questionnaires that covered health and life-style issues. After collating the raw data on diabetes prevalence, the researchers factored in a number of issues they thought might have an impact. These included age, weight, family history of type 2 diabetes, reported exercise habits, education, income levels and, of course, breastfeeding patterns.
“The results are great,” said Liu. “Breastfeeding is a natural activity that women can usually choose to do and it’s wonderful to know that it is good for their health as well.”
The researchers remain unsure as to exactly how the effect they discovered works in practice. Liu speculates that it could have something to do with a long term impact the hormonal changes that come about with breastfeeding might have on a women’s ability to process blood sugar. “I would say to women considering breastfeeding that there are benefits not only for the health of their babies but also for their own longer-term health,” she concluded.
As scientific research journeys on, it seems to happen more and more that we rediscover the wisdom of the ancients that is often little more than a return to common sense and naturally healthy lifestyles. This is includes the knowledge that breastfeeding not only produces healthy children, but also reduces the mother’s chances of developing type 2 diabetes.
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