BOSTON, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- A U.S. study finds that mothers can reduce their risk of diabetes by extended breastfeeding.
Researchers from Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston used data from a survey of 157,000 nurses. They found that the risk of Type 2 diabetes declines 15 percent for every additional year of breastfeeding.
In the United States, few women continue to nurse their babies for as long as a year. Health officials have been trying to increase extended nursing.
"For right now, I think the bottom line is breastfeeding isn't just good for babies; it's also good for mothers," says lead author Alison Stuebe, a clinical fellow in maternal-fetal medicine at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
The research team was unsure why breastfeeding protects women from diabetes, although they say it may be because it uses up about 500 calories a day, the equivalent of running 4 or 5 miles.
Breastfeeding also reduces the risk of breast cancer.
