image via aurimas, flickr
Irish researchers recently published a study in the journal Social Science and Medicine which reveals that breastfeeding dramatically reduces the rate of obesity in adolescents. Researchers followed 8,568 babies born in Ireland between 1997 and 1998, or 1/7th of all babies born that year, and found that those children who were breastfed for 13-25 weeks were 38% less obese than their counterparts when they reached nine years of age. The study also found that nine year olds who were breastfed for 26 weeks or more were 51% less obese. This research follows on the heels of Michelle Obama’s controversial campaign to promote more breastfeeding among American mothers.
I don’t doubt that breastfeeding is beneficial, but a direct relationship to obesity is doubtful. What’s more likely is that families which breastfeed are more likely to live healthier lifestyles.
Look up autocorrelation. These type of studies which correlate something (breast feeding) to something else (non-obesity) almost always just make the jump that one causes the other. Correlation does not imply causality.