Childhood obesity: Breast is not necessarily best

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2007

PARIS (AFP) — Long-term research into obesity suggests that being breastfed as a child does not help prevent obesity later in life, a finding that contradicts guidelines in the United States and elsewhere.

Investigators in the United States looked at the health of 35,000 nurses working in the US between 1989 and 2001.

They asked the nurses' mothers to report on their breastfeeding habits when their child was a newborn, while the nurses themselves were asked to report their height, their current weight and their weight at 18.

The nurses were also asked to recall their body shape at ages five and 10 using a nine-level figure drawing.

Duration of breastfeeding did not affect the body mass index (BMI) -- a key indicator of fat -- in adulthood, according...