Breastfeeding May Reduce YOUR Risk Of Heart Disease and Stroke

We know that breastfeeding lowers your child's risk of developing cardiovascular disease later in life, but here's the awesome news for you...New research shows that the longer you breastfeed, the lower your risk of developing heart disease and/or stroke!

The study, reported in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, analyzed information about almost 140,000 postmenopausal women, averaging 63 years old, who had given birth to at least one child and who had breastfed. (Also taken into account was sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, family history and weight.) Lead Researchers found that mothers who had breastfed for longer than one year were 9 percent less likely than others to have cardiovascular disease; 12 percent less likely to have high blood pressure; 20 percent less likely to have diabetes; and 19 percent less likely to have abnormally high levels of fats in the blood. Lead researcher, Dr. Eleanor Bimla Schwarz, from the University of Pittsburgh states, “Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women, so it’s vitally important for us to know what we can do to protect ourselves. We have known for years that breastfeeding is important for babies’ health; we now know it is important for mothers’ health as well.”

In addition, the study ashowed that women who had breastfed for 7 to 12 months were 28 percent less likely to develop cardiovascular disease during the course of the 8-year study than women who had never breastfed.

Dr. Schwarz maintains, “The longer a mother nurses her baby, the better for both of them. Our study provides another good reason for workplace policies to encourage women to breastfeed their infants.”