Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Reduced in Women Who Breastfeed

Approximately 12 percent of the women in the study developed type 2 diabetes within the two-year window.

GDM usually progresses rapidly to type 2 diabetes, but according to research, women who breastfeed for at least two months after giving birth are about two times less likely to develop the disease.

The researchers at Kaiser Permanente set out to examine the relationship between breastfeeding and type 2 diabetes risk in women with gestational diabetes.

Gunderson said the policy in their study was to focus on the breast feeding efforts to high-risk women either those who have GDM or are obese.

The study found that breast-feeding for more than two months was linked to around a 50 percent reduction in the odds of developing type 2 diabetes for mothers who had already experienced gestational diabetes in the past.

The Study of Women, Infant Feeding and Type 2 Diabetes after GDM Pregnancy, also known as the SWIFT Study, is the first to measure breastfeeding on a monthly basis during the first year after delivery and the first to enroll a statistically significant number of women with gestational diabetes, and to evaluate social, behavioral and prenatal risk factors that influence development of type 2 diabetes, as well as breastfeeding initiation and success. The women were divided into five categories: women who were exclusively breastfeeding, exclusively feeding milk formula, mostly breastfeeding, mostly providing milk formula and mothers who provided an equal mix of breast milk and milk formula. Dr. Alison Stuebe from the University of North Carolina’s School of Medicine believes that breastfeeding also normalizes the body’s metabolism. During the study participants were given oral glucose tolerance tests at baseline for two years.

Gunderson noted that study results held even after taking into account a wide range of factors, including maternal and newborn health, lifestyle behaviors, and changes in the mother’s postpartum weight. Therefore, women should give this some serious thinking before going to the store for baby formula, because after all, breastfeeding is good for you and for your baby.

In the study, the lactation intensity and duration appeared to be strong and had protective associations with diabetes mellitus incidence, independent of risk factors, they said.

Researchers hope that their findings will help the health care systems to allocate greater resources for provision of breastfeeding education. Those who exclusively formula-fed their babies at six to nine weeks of age were more than twice as likely to develop diabetes as women who exclusively breastfed their infants.

She says, “I think it’s one more piece of information and I think it’s particularly helpful for women who are overweight and have diabetes”.

“Pregnancy is a metabolic challenge”, Erica P. Gunderson, the study’s lead author, told the NY Times.

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