08 August 2006

UK Study: Breast Feeding Reduces Stress Later in Life

Sounds crazy, but that's the conclusion by a British study which followed almost 9,000 subjects born in 1970:

Among 5672 non-breast-fed subjects, parental divorce/separation was associated with a statistically significantly raised risk of anxiety... Among the breast-fed group this association was much lower.

Proof that breast milk has a magic ingredient? Not necessarily. Technically, this study suggests that breast feeding, not breast milk, has a protective effect. Good scientists are careful to consider all possible explanations. In this case, that means the effect may be due to parent-child interaction:

Breast feeding is associated with resilience against the psychosocial stress linked with parental divorce/separation. This could be because breast feeding is a marker of exposures related to maternal characteristics and parent-child interaction.

So there you go. Science says cuddle up with your little tyke.

(hat tip, PediatricsInfo.com)

3 comments:

K. said...

yay for breast milk! (you really should add an image to your post, i've selected this one for you) :)

WestEnder said...

That's a happy plump baby!

Anyone know how much milkfat is in breast milk? I heard seal milk is 50% fat, which I believe is the highest of any animal. Just curious.

K. said...

actually - the story behind that photo, i saw on some other blog....or wait, maybe it was on my own? anyway, the readers of the magazine got pissed that they put a baby breastfeeding on the cover. as though it were offensive or something.

first, all men i know love breasts. second, women with babies typically breast feed. sorry if it ruins your image of them dancing around shoving them in your face, but come on....a kid's gotta eat!

i've actually never been curious enough to even think about that....but i wonder about the conversations you have regarding "seal breast milk"???