Two months ago I was at the Fedalma Breastfeeding Congress and one of the speakers dropped that he was beginning to suspect that breastfeeding had more benefits for the mother than for the baby, and not because there were few differences between some babies and others, but because it has been seen that breastfeeding decreases the risk of breast and ovarian cancer, for example, or as they conclude in a recent study: that women who breastfeed may have a lower risk of heart attack and stroke.
Conclusions in line with WHO recommendations
We know, because we have talked about it for years, that the recommendations of the WHO and other official health agencies are to exclusively breastfeed infants for six months, up to 12 months together with other foods, and from the year as a food more within a diversified diet. So at least two years of life, and from that moment until the mother and / or the baby decide to leave it.
These recommendations are made thinking of babies and then children, and also thinking of women, who see how their iron levels increase, and those of cholesterol and blood glucose decrease. It also reduces blood pressure, lowers the risk of osteoporosis and also, as we have said, that of suffering from breast and ovarian cancer. In addition, according to the present study, It also decreases the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and embolisms (ictus).
These conclusions agree, according to the researchers, with these WHO recommendations, and the risk is reduced as the mother breastfeeds more and more. That is, the longer you breastfeed, the lower the risks.
How much does the risk decrease?
This question is interesting, because if the decrease is unimportant the difference between breastfeeding or not would be irrelevant, at least in this regard. To answer we tell you a little more about the study in question, which has been published in the journal Journal of the American Heart Association, and that, as we read on ABC, had a sample of about 300 thousand Chinese women of 51 years of age, whose histories were analyzed to know their reproductive history and life habits.
These women were made an eight year follow-up, and although at the beginning of the study there were no women who had suffered any cardiovascular disease, at the end there had been 16,761 cases of heart disease or myocardial infarction and 23,983 strokes.
They saw that when comparing women who had breastfed with women who had not done so, they were more affected in the second group, and thus established that women who breastfeed their children for 6 months have 9% less risk of coronary heart disease and / or heart attack, Y 8% less from suffering a stroke.
These figures were increasing little by little, so that women who breastfeed for two years have a 18% lower risk of coronary heart disease and / or heart attack Y 17% less stroke.
To avoid confounding factors, variables such as smoking, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and the physical exercise they practiced were analyzed, confirming that the differences occurred equally when controlling these variables.
It is unknown if there is cause and effect
Being an observational study, there could be some unanalyzed confounding factor that was the real cause of that difference, and that there really is no cause and effect. That is why we always speak conditionally: "could" reduce the risk (because I might not do it).
When in doubt, of course, it is advisable to suspect that the benefit exists and to investigate to find the most plausible and definitive answer. And they believe that since the body of the nursing mother uses fat stores to become part of the milk, the risk of cardiovascular disease decreases. Maybe that's why the American Heart Association recommends maintain breastfeeding until the time the baby turns one year old, whenever possible, and taking into account that every six months the risk decreases a little more (from 3 to 4%).
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In Babies and more | Breastfeeding improves the structure of the heart in premature babies, Breastfeeding is good for the mother's heart, Babies who drink artificial milk have a higher risk of heart disease in adulthood
