Breastfeeding may reduce moms’ risk of diabetes

Breastfeeding may reduce moms' risk of diabetes

According to a new research, mothers who had gestational diabetes
during pregnancy but breastfeed their baby for like 2 months or more
have a lower risk of
developing type 2 diabetes.

The study found that there a link between type 2 diabetes and
breastfeeding since breast-
feeding for more than two

months was linked to around a
50 percent reduction in the odds
of developing type 2 diabetes for
mothers who had already
experienced gestational diabetes
in the past.

The study also shows that the longer
women breast-fed, the lower the
odds of type 2 diabetes.

The research is an eye opener that mothers need to increase their
breast-feeding efforts
especially those who
are obese or have a pregnancy
with gestational diabetes.

It must be clearly stated that breast-feeding does not mean that a
mother will not have diabetes but it can only
lower risk of type 2 diabetes and the study found an association
between diabetes and breast feeding.

The length of breast-feeding is also important. For instance,
breast-feeding for more than 10
months was linked to reduced the
mother's risk of
diabetes by 57 percent when
compared to breast-feeding two
months or less. And Moms who
breast-fed their babies between two
months and 10 months had
about half the risk of developing
diabetes when compared to those who
breast-fed less than two months.

The research shows that breast-feeding
help reduce the risk of type 2
diabetes because
Lactation gives the insulin-
producing cells in the body a rest
because they don't have to make
so much insulin to lower blood
glucose. Breast-feeding uses up glucose
and fat in the blood because
those nutrients are transferred
from the bloodstream into the
breast tissue for milk
production. Breast-
feeding give the body a
recovery period after pregnancy,
when the body must go into
overdrive with insulin production
to keep blood sugar levels under
control and seems to reset
the body's metabolism after the
metabolic chaos of pregnancy.

Also for moms to fully benefits from their breast-feeding in relation
to type 2 diabetes,
other lifestyle behaviors such as
weight loss, dietary changes and
increasing physical activity that
reduce future risk of diabetes should be practice.

In the long run both moms and babies would benefit from adequate or
exclusive breast feeding.