|
| | RSS Feeds | | | Subscribe for Newsletter | | |
|
|
Breast-fed infants are whiz kids: Study |
|
|
A study has found that infants, who are breastfed, stand a better chance of becoming bright students later in life.
The researchers from the American University and University of Colorado Denver analysed the academic performance of 126 sibling pairs, one of which was breastfed and the other fed through a bottle in infancy. They also gathered information on high school completion and college education of 191 similar siblings.
Breast-fed infants make brighter students as the subjects belonged to the same families, they were brought up in the same home environment and exposed the same parental intelligence, minimising the influence of nurture versus nature.
The research team found that breast-fed subjects had 12 to 14 per cent higher average grades than their bottle-fed siblings. Apart from this, their chances of getting a college education were higher. In fact, every extra month of breastfeeding improved both the grades and the likelihood of going to college. This could have been because breastfeeding improved the cognitive skills and health of the children.
Author Joseph J Sabia of American University said, "The results of our study suggest that the cognitive and health benefits of breastfeeding may lead to important long-run educational benefits for children."
Co-researcher Daniel Rees, from the University of Colorado Denver, added, "By focusing on differences between siblings, we can rule out the possibility that family-level factors such as socioeconomic status are driving the relationship between having been breastfed and educational attainment."
Breastfeeding allows nutrients and antibodies to pass from the mother to the baby, thereby strengthening the infant`s immune system. Besides helping the mother bond with her offspring, it has numerous health benefits for the baby, including a decreased chance of developing diabetes and also obesity.
(Posted on : 01/07/2009)
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Breast-fed infants are whiz kids: Study |
|
