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Diabetes

Breastfeeding May Protect Mother From Developing Diabetes Type 2 (Medical News
Today-30 August 2010)

A mother who breastfed her children has a considerably lower risk of developing Diabetes Type
2 when she is older, compared to a woman who had children but never breastfed, according to an
article published in the American Journal of Medicine. Women who never gave birth have the
same risk as women who breastfeed their children

A woman who has never breastfed at all runs nearly twice the risk of developing diabetes,
compared to women who never gave birth, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh
revealed.

Eleanor Bimla Schwarz, M.D., M.S., assistant professor of medicine, epidemiology, and
obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, said-

We have seen dramatic increases in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes over the last century. Diet
and exercise are widely known to impact the risk of type 2 diabetes, but few people realize that
breastfeeding also reduces mothers' risk of developing the disease later in life by decreasing
maternal belly fat.

The study involved 2,233 women aged between 40 and 78 years. Approximately 56% of them
said they had breastfed for a month or more.

The study found that-

27% of women who had children but never breastfed at all developed diabetes type 2.
Women who had had children and never breastfed were almost twice as likely to develop
diabetes type 2 as women who had never given birth.
Women who had breastfed all their infants ran the same risk of developing diabetes type 2 as
women who had never given birth.
The scientists inform that these long-term differences persisted even after certain factors were
taken into account, such as age, race, physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption.

Dr. Schwarz said-

Our study provides another good reason to encourage women to breastfeed their infants, at least
for the infant's first month of life. Clinicians need to consider women's pregnancy and lactation
history when advising women about their risk for developing type 2 diabetes.

Types of diabetes

There are three main types of diabetes-

Diabetes Type 1 - You produce no insulin at all. This is an autoimmune disease - the person's
body has destroyed his/her own insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Most patients with
Diabetes Type 1 developed the condition before the age of 40. Approximately 15% of all people
with diabetes have Type 1.

Diabetes Type 2 - You don't produce enough insulin, or your insulin is not working properly.
The majority of people with Type 2 have developed the condition because they are overweight.
Type 2 generally appears later on in life, compared to Type 1.
Gestational Diabetes - You develop diabetes just during your pregnancy.