Maternal exercise may improve benefits of breastfeeding

Pregnant women who engaged in moderate levels of exercise increased a compound in their breast milk that may lower their offspring’s risks for serious health problems like CVD or diabetes, researchers reported in Nature Metabolism.

“We wanted to determine how the moms conferred [improved glucose metabolism, reduced fat mass and reduced body weight throughout their lifespan] effects to their offspring,” Kristin Stanford, PhD, associate professor of physiology and cell biology at The Ohio State University’s Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute, told Healio Primary Care.

Stanford and colleagues analyzed data from 139 healthy pregnant women who did not drink, smoke, or use medications that affected fetal growth. While pregnant, these women had their steps recorded as they participated in varying levels of daily activity. For 2 months after childbirth, the women collected a breast milk sample at the second feeding of the day or around 9 a.m., whichever came first.

Then, “the offspring of exercise-trained moms drank milk from sedentary moms, and the offspring from sedentary moms drank milk from exercise-trained moms,” Stanford explained.

The researchers compared the women’s physical activity levels to the levels of oligosaccharide 3’siallylactose — a compound that offsets the detrimental effects of a high-fat diet on body composition and metabolism — in the breast milk. According to the researchers, women with more steps had higher oligosaccharide 3’siallylactose levels, suggesting that moderate exercise, such as a daily walk, could reduce the offspring’s risk for developing of CVD, obesity and type 2 diabetes.

The results were also supported by an animal model study, according to the researchers.

“This is the first study to show that breast milk can confer the beneficial effects of maternal exercise to offspring,” Stanford said.