A new study gives another addition to the growing list of the health benefits of breastfeeding to mothers. Researchers from Kaiser Permanente have found that breastfeeding is associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes for women with a history of gestational diabetes.
Gestational diabetes, a condition characterized by high blood glucose during pregnancy, affects five to nine percent of all pregnant women in the U.S. each year. Women who have had gestational diabetes face up to seven times greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes a few years after their pregnancy.
Although women with this condition are advised to breastfeed, previous studies have not provided conclusive results regarding the association between breastfeeding and the progression to type 2 diabetes.
The researchers studied data from more than 1,000 women with gestational diabetes enrolled in the Study of Women, Infant Feeding and Type 2 Diabetes after GDM Pregnancy, or SWIFT, from 2008 to 2011. The women underwent oral glucose tolerance and other tests at six to nine weeks, one year and two years after delivery.
Within two years post-delivery, 12 percent of the participants developed type 2 diabetes. On the other hand, those who either exclusively breastfed or mostly breastfed their babies had a 54 percent lower risk for type 2 diabetes. Additionally, the longer the mother breastfed her baby, the lower the risk becomes.
"Both the level and duration of breastfeeding may offer unique benefits to women during the post-delivery period for protection against development of type 2 diabetes after gestational diabetes pregnancy," lead study author Erica P. Gunderson, epidemiologist and senior research scientist at Kaiser Permanente, said in a press release.
The researchers concluded that women who breastfed their children more and for longer periods of time may prevent gestational diabetes from progressing into type 2 diabetes. However, the study did not show a cause-and-effect relationship between breastfeeding and type 2 diabetes development.
"These findings highlight the importance of prioritizing breastfeeding education and support for women with gestational diabetes as part of early diabetes prevention efforts by health care systems," Gunderson said.
The study was published online Nov. 24 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
