 A study published in the American Journal
of Clinical Nutrition shows that breastfed infants tested 5.2 IQ points higher than formula fed
infants, for a comprehensive study involving 11 different studies and over 7000 children.
The study, to be published in the October edition of the American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition was performed by University of Kentucky nutritionist James Anderson.
"Our study confirms that breast-feeding is accompanied by about a five-points higher
IQ than in bottle-fed infants," Anderson said.
Within that increase, Anderson and associates were able to separate the benefits from
mother-infant bonding from the purely nutritional benefits of human milk.
"Our best estimates are that maternal bonding and the decision to breast-feed account
for about 40 percent of that increase, but that 60 percent -- 3.2 points
-- are
related to the actual nutritional value of the breast milk," he said.
The link between breast-feeding and brain development has been well established in recent
years, but the reasons for it remain controversial. Some researchers believe the link is
based on the fact that well-educated, wealthier women breast-feed far more than poor and
less educated women. Consequently, breast-fed children will be found to test better for
all the reasons that wealthier children from high social classes test better on
standardized tests. But others believe there are chemicals in breast milk that
encourage brain development, and that those chemicals are now absent in formula.
In particular, extensive research is under way into the effects
of several Omega-3 fatty acids -docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (AA) - that are prevalent in
breast milk but absent in infant formula.
Therefore Anderson's group weighed and subtracted 15 factors from their study, such as
maternal smoking and education, birth weight, birth order and family income. After
all these factors were removed, the researchers still found that breast-fed babies tested
3.1 IQ points higher than formula-fed babies!
The Abstract for the study noted above can be found at the American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition (Abstract only, the full text requires subscribing)
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