HEALTH TIPS: Breastfeeding against diabetes

Health Tip – Audio Version - Breastfeeding against diabetes
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step: Breastfeeding. Best for Baby. Best for Mom. (National Women’s Health Information Center)

A study indicates breastfeeding gives moms a benefit – a drop in the risk of diabetes.

Researchers compared mothers who breastfed with those who did not. The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Researcher Alison Stuebe (STOO’-bee) of Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital:

“We looked specifically at women in the 15 years after they had their last baby. And we found that each year a woman breastfeeds reduced her risk of diabetes by 15 percent.”

How could that happen? Well, breastfeeding lowers levels of insulin and sugar – and helps women shed weight:

“A breastfeeding woman uses up about 500 calories a day making milk for her baby. That’s the equivalent of running about four to five miles a day. That’s a lot of energy.”

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: August, 15 2006