Posted on 07/30/2013 5:13:56 AM PDT by don-o
Young children who were breastfed as infants scored higher on intelligence tests than formula-fed kids, and the longer and more exclusively they were breastfed, the greater the difference, say Harvard University researchers in a study published today in JAMA Pediatrics.
This study adds “to the body of literature of the association between duration of breastfeeding and cognition,” says NBC News diet and health editor Madelyn Fernstrom, Ph. D., CNS. But does breastfeeding make your child smarter? Fernstrom says this study shows an association, not cause and effect.
The researchers analyzed 1,312 expectant mothers enrolled between 1999 and 2002 in Project Viva, a study in eastern Massachusetts examining pregnancy and child health, and the children they delivered.
The researchers found that 7-year-olds whose moms had done any breastfeeding during the child’s first year - exclusively or in combination with formula - gained a little more than a third of a point in verbal IQ for each month of breastfeeding compared to children who were never breastfed. That means if the mom did any mix of breastfeeding for the entire 12 months, the gain would be 4.2 verbal IQ points.
The association between breastfeeding and intelligence was stronger when researchers broke out children whose moms exclusively breastfed during the first six months.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Have they isolated for variables in a double blind study? My guess is that its a coincidental finding. Smarter people generally have smarter children. Breast feeding is what we have been told is best (no argument here) and more smart people do it than dumb people.
I would also guess that people who have started a successful business have higher IQs, but giving someone a successful business isn’t going to make them smarter.
Does the practice have any benefits if applied during adulthood?
Reading the whole article indicates, Yes.
Such bs...Just another “breasfeed or else”...live with the consequences
Did not take long for the 14 year old to show up, I see.
Why is breast milk better than formula? Three reasons:
1. It’s always fresh.
2. The cats can’t get at it.
3. It comes in such a cute little container.
Yeh...now lets go to the jungles where everyone breasfeeds until the kid has choppers. And their IQ is what??
““breasfeed or else””
What did you think those things were for?
how about third world countries with no formulas?
I guess a study needs to made of African intelligence to determine that.
I don’t believe this.
Why not?
This has been known for a long time. But good to know that the findings are repeatable.
Than the third world should be full of geniuses if this were true.
Or women who have the time and luxury to prolong breastfeeding tend to be those who spend more time with their children, which leads to smarter kids.
Not sure I do either.
This seems like a pseudo-study.
Seriously.
How so? I am interested in valid objections backed up by facts.
Reading with, talking to and spending time with a child will take her farther than any breastmilk ever will.
Whether you are conceptually into "Intelligent Design" or "Evolution" (or "Intelligently Designed Evolution") you've gotta admit that the formulation of mothers' milk has been microcalibrated over thousands of generations with very strict specifications: any inferior product decreased babies' chances of surviving, developing well, and having babies of their own.
I think mothers' milk is a product of genius. But that's just me.
:o)
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