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Breastfeeding makes kids smarter, study says
Updated Mon. May. 5 2008 5:23 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Children who are breastfed score higher on IQ tests, as well as on teacher ratings of their academic performance, according to the findings of a new study.
By age six and a half, children who were breast-fed scored 7.5 points higher on verbal-intelligence tests, 2.9 points higher on non-verbal intelligence tests and 5.9 points higher on overall intelligence tests.
"Our results, based on the largest randomized trial ever conducted in the area of human lactation, strongly suggest that prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding improves cognitive development as measured by IQ and teachers' academic ratings at age 6.5 years," the authors conclude in their study.
The research was published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.
A team of international researchers, led by Dr. Michael Kramer of McGill University, evaluated data from 14,000 children born at 31 Belarusian hospitals. Half of the babies' mothers were encouraged to breastfeed exclusively for as long as possible. The other half had standard in-hospital maternity care and outpatient follow-up without the breastfeeding intervention.
After the children turned six, their pediatricians administered IQ tests and their teachers evaluated their academic accomplishments in reading, writing, math and other subjects.
The findings support previous observational studies that have found breast-fed babies to be smarter than their formula-fed counterparts.
"The consistency of our findings based on a randomized trial with those reported in previous observational studies should prove helpful in encouraging further public health efforts to promote, protect, and support breastfeeding," the authors wrote.
However, the researchers noted that it is not yet clear if the breast milk itself influences the cognitive development of babies. They acknowledge that the physical and emotional actions associated with breastfeeding could have an impact on how the brain develops.
Abstract:
Breastfeeding and Child Cognitive Development
New Evidence From a Large Randomized Trial
Michael S. Kramer, MD; Frances Aboud, PhD; Elena Mironova, MSc; Irina Vanilovich, MD, MSc; Robert W. Platt, PhD; Lidia Matush, MD, MSc; Sergei Igumnov, MD, PhD; Eric Fombonne, MD; Natalia Bogdanovich, MD, MSc; Thierry Ducruet, MSc; Jean-Paul Collet, MD, PhD; Beverley Chalmers, DSc, PhD; Ellen Hodnett, PhD; Sergei Davidovsky, MD, MSc; Oleg Skugarevsky, MD, PhD; Oleg Trofimovich, BSc; Ludmila Kozlova, BSc; Stanley Shapiro, PhD; for the Promotion of Breastfeeding Intervention Trial (PROBIT) Study Group
Context: The evidence that breastfeeding improves cognitive development is based almost entirely on observational studies and is thus prone to confounding by subtle behavioural differences in the breastfeeding mother's behaviour or her interaction with the infant.
Objective: To assess whether prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding improves children's cognitive ability at age 6.5 years.
Design: Cluster-randomized trial, with enrolment from June 17, 1996, to December 31, 1997, and follow-up from December 21, 2002, to April 27, 2005.
Setting: Thirty-one Belarusian maternity hospitals and their affiliated polyclinics.
Participants: A total of 17 046 healthy breastfeeding infants were enrolled, of whom 13 889 (81.5%) were followed up at age 6.5 years.
Intervention: Breastfeeding promotion intervention modeled on the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative by the World Health Organization and UNICEF.
Main Outcome Measures: Subtest and IQ scores on the Wechsler Abbreviated Scales of Intelligence, and teacher evaluations of academic performance in reading, writing, mathematics, and other subjects.
Results: The experimental intervention led to a large increase in exclusive breastfeeding at age 3 months (43.3% for the experimental group vs 6.4% for the control group; P_.001) and a significantly higher prevalence of any breastfeeding at all ages up to and including 12 months. The experimental group had higher means on all of the Wechsler Abbreviated Scales of Intelligence measures, with cluster-adjusted mean differences (95% confidence intervals) of _7.5 (_0.8 to _14.3) for verbal IQ, _2.9 (−3.3 to_9.1) for performance IQ, and_5.9 (−1.0 to _12.8) for full-scale IQ. Teachers' academic ratings were significantly higher in the experimental group for both reading and writing.
Conclusion: These results, based on the largest randomized trial ever conducted in the area of human lactation, provide strong evidence that prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding improves children's cognitive development.
Breastfeeding makes kids smarter, study says
Updated Mon. May. 5 2008 5:23 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Children who are breastfed score higher on IQ tests, as well as on teacher ratings of their academic performance, according to the findings of a new study.
By age six and a half, children who were breast-fed scored 7.5 points higher on verbal-intelligence tests, 2.9 points higher on non-verbal intelligence tests and 5.9 points higher on overall intelligence tests.
"Our results, based on the largest randomized trial ever conducted in the area of human lactation, strongly suggest that prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding improves cognitive development as measured by IQ and teachers' academic ratings at age 6.5 years," the authors conclude in their study.
The research was published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.
A team of international researchers, led by Dr. Michael Kramer of McGill University, evaluated data from 14,000 children born at 31 Belarusian hospitals. Half of the babies' mothers were encouraged to breastfeed exclusively for as long as possible. The other half had standard in-hospital maternity care and outpatient follow-up without the breastfeeding intervention.
After the children turned six, their pediatricians administered IQ tests and their teachers evaluated their academic accomplishments in reading, writing, math and other subjects.
The findings support previous observational studies that have found breast-fed babies to be smarter than their formula-fed counterparts.
"The consistency of our findings based on a randomized trial with those reported in previous observational studies should prove helpful in encouraging further public health efforts to promote, protect, and support breastfeeding," the authors wrote.
However, the researchers noted that it is not yet clear if the breast milk itself influences the cognitive development of babies. They acknowledge that the physical and emotional actions associated with breastfeeding could have an impact on how the brain develops.
Abstract:
Breastfeeding and Child Cognitive Development
New Evidence From a Large Randomized Trial
Michael S. Kramer, MD; Frances Aboud, PhD; Elena Mironova, MSc; Irina Vanilovich, MD, MSc; Robert W. Platt, PhD; Lidia Matush, MD, MSc; Sergei Igumnov, MD, PhD; Eric Fombonne, MD; Natalia Bogdanovich, MD, MSc; Thierry Ducruet, MSc; Jean-Paul Collet, MD, PhD; Beverley Chalmers, DSc, PhD; Ellen Hodnett, PhD; Sergei Davidovsky, MD, MSc; Oleg Skugarevsky, MD, PhD; Oleg Trofimovich, BSc; Ludmila Kozlova, BSc; Stanley Shapiro, PhD; for the Promotion of Breastfeeding Intervention Trial (PROBIT) Study Group
Context: The evidence that breastfeeding improves cognitive development is based almost entirely on observational studies and is thus prone to confounding by subtle behavioural differences in the breastfeeding mother's behaviour or her interaction with the infant.
Objective: To assess whether prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding improves children's cognitive ability at age 6.5 years.
Design: Cluster-randomized trial, with enrolment from June 17, 1996, to December 31, 1997, and follow-up from December 21, 2002, to April 27, 2005.
Setting: Thirty-one Belarusian maternity hospitals and their affiliated polyclinics.
Participants: A total of 17 046 healthy breastfeeding infants were enrolled, of whom 13 889 (81.5%) were followed up at age 6.5 years.
Intervention: Breastfeeding promotion intervention modeled on the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative by the World Health Organization and UNICEF.
Main Outcome Measures: Subtest and IQ scores on the Wechsler Abbreviated Scales of Intelligence, and teacher evaluations of academic performance in reading, writing, mathematics, and other subjects.
Results: The experimental intervention led to a large increase in exclusive breastfeeding at age 3 months (43.3% for the experimental group vs 6.4% for the control group; P_.001) and a significantly higher prevalence of any breastfeeding at all ages up to and including 12 months. The experimental group had higher means on all of the Wechsler Abbreviated Scales of Intelligence measures, with cluster-adjusted mean differences (95% confidence intervals) of _7.5 (_0.8 to _14.3) for verbal IQ, _2.9 (−3.3 to_9.1) for performance IQ, and_5.9 (−1.0 to _12.8) for full-scale IQ. Teachers' academic ratings were significantly higher in the experimental group for both reading and writing.
Conclusion: These results, based on the largest randomized trial ever conducted in the area of human lactation, provide strong evidence that prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding improves children's cognitive development.