We have heard that “breast is best” for babies, but the results of a study published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology indicate that this practice has health benefits for mothers as well. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh examined the health records of almost 140,000 post-menopausal women who participated in the Women’s Health Initiative. The study started in 1994. The results indicate that the longer a woman nurses her child, the lower her risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attack, and stroke.
Breast feeding for two years or more during a woman’s lifetime had these benefits:
- 12 percent lower risk for diabetes
- 13 percent lower risk for high blood pressure
- 20 percent lower risk for high cholesterol
For some women, opting against bottle feeding offers a certain degree of protection against the following:
- anemia
- breast cancer
- endometrial cancer
- osteoporosis
- ovarian cancer
