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Last Updated: Oct 6, 2008 - 12:00:27 PM |
SUNDAY MARCH 2, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- Breastfeeding may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes in the babies during their teen years and young adulthood, according to a study published only Dec. 10, 2007 in Diabetes Care.
The study by Elizabeth J. Mayer-Davis at the University of South Carolina and colleagues from within the university and University of Colorado School of Medicine and Wake Forest University School of Medicine showed young people ever breastfed were 74 percent less likely to have type 2 diabetes than those never breastfed.
The SEARCH Case-Control Study involved eighty people aged 10 to 21 who had type 2 diabetes and were treated on six clinical sites and 167 non-diabetic control subjects from primary care provider offices. Breastfeeding status was recalled by biological mothers.
The researchers found prevalence of breast-feeding was significantly lower among those who had type 2 diabetes than the controls, 19.5% vs. 27.1% for blacks, 50.0% vs. 83% for Hispanics and 39.1% vs. 77.6% for non-Hispanic whites.
The overall risk of type 2 diabetes for those who were ever breastfed was only 26% of the risk for those who were never breastfed. The risk reduction by breastfeeding after considering 12 potential confounders was still significant, 57%.
But when body mass index was considered, the risk reduction was attenuated to 18%, suggesting that possible mediation through current childhood weight status, the researchers write in their report.
Breastfeeding was associated with the reduction in diabetes risk in a dose-dependent manner even after all possible confounders and BMI z-score were adjusted.
The researchers concluded that "breast-feeding appears to be protective against development of type 2 diabetes in youth, mediated in part by current weight status in childhood."
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