Breast Feeding Linked to Intelligence-at 3 years and 7 years:

Jojy Cheriyan MD;MPH-July 30,2013

Importance of breast feeding has always been highlighted and taught to all pregnant women. But how long is the exclusive breast feeding duration is still a debated issue, as national and international recommendations favor 6 months of exclusive breast feeding and at least some breast feeding during the rest of the first year. Previous studies reported that many women start breast feeding but fail to sustain it after 4-6 months. After 6 months only 35% of women overall and 20% of black women breastfeed their infants.

The new study published yesterday in the JAMA Pediatrics (online first- July 29,2013) reported that breastfeeding over the first year of life was linked to better understanding of language at 3 and better verbal and nonverbal intelligence at 7.

The study conducted by Dr.Belfort and colleagues of Boston Children's Hospital was a prospective cohort study in which they studied 1,312 mothers and children in Project Viva, a study that enrolled pregnant women and followed them and their children until the children were 7.

When these children were at age 3, the researchers measured language understanding with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and motor skills with the Wide Range Assessment of Visual Motor Abilities.

When same children were at 7years of age, the researchers measured verbal and nonverbal intelligence with the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test, and also looked again at motor skills with the Wide Range Assessment of Visual Motor Abilities.

Final analysis done after controlling things such as age and sex of the children, their health, and socioeconomic factors, as well as maternal intelligence and the home environment. The results showed that longer breast feeding was associated with higher Vocabulary test scores and higher intelligence test scores with Kaufman Intelligence Test.

In a nutshell this study found that breastfeeding an infant for the first year of life would be expected to increase his or her IQ by about 4 points.

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