gms | German Medical Science

Whereas a recently published meta-analysis showed that ever breastfeeding reduces the risk of obesity in childhood significantly [Ref. 1], the recent literature describing the relationship between duration of breastfeeding and risk of overweight or obesity in childhood remains inconclusive.

Between November 2000 and November 2001 all mothers and their newborns were recruited after delivery at the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the University of Ulm, Germany. Active follow-up was performed at age 12 months and at age 24 months.

Of the 1066 children included at baseline information on body mass index was available for 855 (80%) at the two year follow-up. At this age 72 children (8.4%) were overweight and 24 (2.8%) were severely overweight. Whereas 76 children (8.9%) were never breastfed, 533 childern (62.3%) were breastfed for at least six months, and 322 children (37.7%) were exclusively breastfed for at least six months. Compared to children who were breastfed less than three months the adjusted OR for overweight was 0.4 (95% CI 0.2 - 0.8) in children who were breastfed for at least six months. When considering time of exclusive breastfeeding, the adjusted OR for overweight was 0.8 (95% CI 0.4; 1.5) in children who were exclusively breastfed for at least three but less than six months and 0.4 (95% CI 0.2; 0.9) in children who were exclusively breastfed for at least six months compared to children who were exclusively breastfed less than three months.

These results highlight the importance of prolonged breastfeeding in the prevention of overweight in children.