BREAST FED BABIES LESS LIKELY TO BE DIABETIC

Breast-fed babies appear to be less likely to develop type 2 diabetes, according to findings published in the medical journal Diabetes Care.


To investigate factors related to the occurrence of type 2 diabetes in individuals 10to 21 years of age, the researchers used a subset of data from a larger study. The analysis included 80 subjects with type 2 diabetes who were matched to 167 "controls" without diabetes.

The breast-feeding rate was lower in subjects with type 2 diabetes compared with the control subjects, at 20 versus 27 percent in African Americans; 50 versus 84 percent for Hispanics; and 39 percent versus 78 percent for non-Hispanic whites, respectively.


"Given other well-established reasons for breast-feeding," the researchers conclude, "renewed efforts to encourage breast-feeding in populations at high risk for type 2 diabetes may be useful."