Exclusive breast-feeding decreased risk of overweight, obesity

Exclusive breast-feeding at aged 6 to 7 months decreased the risk of overweight and obesity among schoolchildren in Japan, according to recent study findings published in JAMA Pediatrics.

According to study background information, “breast-feeding is one of the factors that may alleviate the epidemic of childhood obesity worldwide.”

The study included 43,367 singleton infants born after 37 gestational weeks. Information came from data analyses of a nationwide longitudinal survey results collected from 2001 to 2009.

Researchers found that exclusive breast-feeding in infants aged 6 to 7 months decreased the risk of overweight and obesity compared with formula feeding. At age 7 years, the adjusted ORs for overweight were 0.85 (95% CI, 0.69-1.05) and 0.55 (95% CI, 0.39-0.78) for obesity. Results were similar at age 8 years.

“In conclusion, after adjusting for potential confounders, we demonstrated that breast-feeding is associated with decreased risk of overweight and obesity among schoolchildren in Japan, and the protective association is stronger for obesity than overweight,” Michiyo Yamakawa, MHSc, of Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and colleagues wrote.

In an accompanying editorial, Marit L. Bovbjerg, PhD, MS, of Oregon State University, and colleagues wrote that “causality will never be proven” between the association of breast-feeding and obesity because “it is unethical to randomize women to a formula-feeding arm. Regardless, breast-feeding should be promoted.”

For more information:

Bovbjerg ML. JAMA Pediatr. 2013;doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.2854.

Yamakawa M. JAMA Pediatr. 2013;doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.2230.

Disclosure: The study was funded in part by Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare Health and Labour Sciences Research Grants on Health Research on Children, Youth and Families and the Sumitomo Foundation.