Babies given extended breast-feeding may benefit from higher intelligence, researchers say today.
Dr Bernardo Lessa Horta and colleagues at the Federal University of Pelotas in Brazil analysed figures on 3,493 babies born in Pelotas, Brazil in 1982 and followed for 30 years.
This showed that those who were breastfed longer – up to a year – tended to have higher IQs, stay in education longer, and earn more as adults.
The link remained strong once many factors were taken into account, such as family income, parental education, maternal smoking in pregnancy, maternal age, birthweight, and method of delivery.
Those who were breastfed for at least a year scored on average four IQ points higher than those breastfed for less than a month. Full details appear today in the Lancet Global Health journal.
Dr Horta says: "The effect of breastfeeding on brain development and child intelligence is well established, but whether these effects persist into adulthood is less clear.
"Our study provides the first evidence that prolonged breastfeeding not only increases intelligence until at least the age of 30 years but also has an impact both at an individual and societal level by improving educational attainment and earning ability."
He added that in this study, breastfeeding duration was evenly distributed by social class. "Previous studies from developed countries have been criticized for failing to disentangle the effect of breastfeeding from that of socioeconomic advantage, but our work addresses this issue for the first time," he states.
As for the possible mechanism behind the effect, the team point to the long-chain saturated fatty acids in breast milk which are essential for brain development.
The UK Royal College of Midwives said the findings were "interesting."
Janet Fyle, from the college, said: “Breastfeeding lays the foundations for an individual’s future health and wellbeing and brings great benefits for society as a whole in terms of reduced spending on ill health.
“This also highlights the importance of good postnatal support and access to midwives to give women the help they need to establish and continue breastfeeding.“
Victora, C. G. et al. Association between breastfeeding and intelligence, educational attainment, and income at 30 years of age: a prospective birth cohort study from Brazil. Lancet Global Health 18 March 2015
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