Researchers have long known that breastfeeding mothers benefit from less incidence of breast and ovarian cancer and type II diabetes than formula-feeding mothers. A new study shows yet more strong correlation between breastfeeding and lower rates of diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

Photo courtesy of Karen Barefoot

Nearly 140,000 post-menopausal women were studied in the Women’s Health Initiative. According to the Vancouver Sun (via One Small Step for Breastfeeding…), the study revealed breastfeeding’s heart health benefits on three levels:

1. Risk Factors. Women who breastfed their babies had lower incidence of the following three risk factors for heart disease: diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

2. Cardiovascular Disease. Women who had never breastfed were significantly more likely to develop heart disease than women who breastfed for seven months or more.

3. Heart Attack and Stroke. Women who breastfed for a cumulative 12 months or more in their lifetimes had a 10% lower incidence of heart attack, stroke, or heart disease later in life.

Researcher Eleanor Bimla Schwarz, MD told WebMD:

The longer women nursed babies, the less likely they were to develop diabetes, heart disease, or stroke. Any breastfeeding was good, but more was better.

The complete study appears in the May 2009 issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Breastfed babies are less likely to have certain cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in adulthood than their bottle-fed counterparts, researchers reported at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2007.

“Breastfeeding babies offers them long-term heart-health benefits,” American Heart Association news, November 5, 2007.