The news came a little door at odds amid reports questioning the virtues of breastfeeding for healthy babies. A new study has instead focused on the mothers. And concluded that breastfeeding for at least 12 months during its life reduces the risk of heart disease by 9%.
Obstetricians at the University of Pittsburgh, who published their findings in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, suggest that the hormone oxytocin, which is involved in milk production, explain the results, because it also makes blood vessels more flexible. But they warn that the effect could also be due to a healthier lifestyle in general, in nursing mothers.
In total, 58% of women had breastfed at least once during their lives, and 6% were breastfed for more than two years in total.
Compared to other women, patients who breastfed between 7 and 12 months during their lives had lower risk of hypertension (42.1% against 38.6%), diabetes (5.3% against 4.3%), and cardiovascular disease (9.9% against 9.1%).
The researchers analyzed medical records of 140 000 women with a mean age of 63 years and took into account the weight and socioeconomic status in their calculations. In doing so, they wanted to eliminate as much as possible confounding factors, particularly the assumption that women who breastfeed for a long time have less stressful lives that reduce their cardiovascular risk, and also allow them to spend more time with their baby. They conclude with another bémol: metabolic problems that could explain to both obesity and diabetes, and difficulty breastfeeding.
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