Breast *is* best

Early weaning linked to chronic disease

Researcher Dr Julie Smith and her team at the Australian National University have found that infants who were prematurely weaned were more likely to be at risk from a host of chronic diseases as adults compared to those who were weaned later. The research analysed the results of existing studies found that chronic diseases like diabetes, obesity, asthma, digestive diseases, childhood cancers and heart problems may all be more common in those who were breastfed for a shorter duration.

Dr Smith said: ‘The risk associated with lack of breastfeeding in infancy was 30 per cent higher for many conditions compared to breastfed infants …We still don’t fully understand the long-term implications of breastfeeding in infancy. But … more than one in 10 Australians will face heightened risk in later life because they were not breastfed.’

Source: www.news-medical.net/news, 27 July 2010.

-