Washington, Aug. 29: Mothers who don’t breastfeed their babies are more at risk of developing type-2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease, later in life than mothers who did.
“We have seen dramatic increases in the prevalence of type-2 diabetes over the last century,” said Ms Eleanor Bimla Schwarz, assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
“Diet and exercise are widely known to impact the risk of type-2 diabetes, but few people realise that breastfeeding also reduces the mother’s risk of developing the disease later in life by decreasing maternal belly fat,” said Ms Schwarz, according to a Pittsburgh release.
Of the 2,233 women between the ages of 40 and 78, 27 per cent of mothers who did not breastfeed developed type-2 diabetes or were almost twice more likely to develop the disease than women who had breastfed.