According to a new study, breastfeeding may lower long term risk of developing risk factors for diabetes and heart disease in mothers than who bottle-feed.
After following 700 women for 20 years, researchers found that mothers who had breastfed were less likely to develop metabolic syndrome.
It is a cluster of risk factors for heart disease and type 2 diabetes that includes increased blood pressure, increased blood sugar, abdominal obesity, elevated triglycerides, and lower levels of HDL cholesterol.
Dr. Erica P. Gunderson, a research scientist at Kaiser Permanente’s Division of Research in Oakland, California, told, while this new study suggests that breastfeeding has a strong positive effect against metabolic syndrome, more research is necessary to see whether it lowers the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
Source: Reuters
