Longer breastfeeding lowers diabetes risk in mothers

Breastfeeding is not just good for the baby.

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It is also incredibly awesome for the mother.

Now science has told us before that it reduces depression, obesity and other cancers but it seems there is more.

researchers examined data on 1,238 mothers without diabetes FROM the outset. 25 years years later, 182 women developed diabetes.

It was found that by comparison mothers who nursed babies for at least six months were 48% less likely to develop diabetes.

Lead study author Erica Gunderson of the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California:

There could be greater health benefits for women from breastfeeding than previously recognized.

All of the women had at least one baby during the study, and most of them did breastfeed.

Overall, 418 mothers, or 34 %, nursed infants for up to six months. Another 268 women, or 22 %, breastfed for six to 12 months, and 230 mothers, or 19 %, nursed their babies for a year or more.

Among women who didn’t breastfeed at all, 10 of every 1,000 typically developed diabetes each year, the study found.

The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how breastfeeding duration might impact the odds of developing diabetes. Researchers also lacked data on how long women may have breastfed exclusively or supplemented with formula or baby foods.