Gene and breastfeeding can increase IQ

DURHAM, N.C., Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Breastfeeding raised intelligence an average of nearly 7 IQ points in children, who had the gene FADS2, U.S. and British researchers found.

Terrie Moffitt, of Duke University's Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy and Avshalom Caspi at King's College in London conducted two studies involving more than 3,000 breast-fed children in Britain and New Zealand.

Ninety percent of the children in the two study groups had at least one copy of the "C" version of FADS2, which yielded higher IQ if they were breastfed but the other 10 percent, those with the "G" versions of the gene, showed no IQ advantage or disadvantage from breastfeeding.

The gene produces an enzyme that helps convert dietary fatty acids into the polyunsaturated fatty acids docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, and arachidonic acid, or AA, which have been shown to accumulate in the human brain during the first months after birth.

"Our findings support the idea that the nutritional content of breast milk accounts for the differences seen in human IQ," Moffitt said in a statement. "But it's not a simple all-or-none connection: it depends to some extent on the genetic makeup of each infant."

The findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.