Breastfeeding can improve IQ, study finds

[Al-khiyal]

November 6, 2007 -- Breastfeeding can have a positive effect on the IQ of children when combined with the right genes, says an Otago University study.

The findings, published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, come out of the university's Dunedin multidisciplinary health and development study.

Study director Professor Richie Poulton said previous studies had shown that breastfed children averaged higher IQ scores than non-breastfed children.

"However, not all breastfed children show this higher IQ score.

"What we and our international collaborators have found is that they also have to have a certain version of a gene called FADS2," Dr Poulton said.

"We were able to rule out other potential explanations for the IQ findings, including the mother's socioeconomic status and birth weight of the baby."

Researchers followed two groups of people - 1000 Dunedin-born study members and 2200 British children born in 1994-95.

The IQ of all study members was tested, and the mothers of study members were asked about breastfeeding practices.

The FADS2 gene is inherited from both the mother's and father's side.

The gene comes in two versions: C and G. Children inherit either two of the C version, one each of C and G, or two of the G version.

The C version of the FADS2 gene is associated with more efficient processing of the omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids found in breast milk. This may in turn help brain development and function, though the exact link is not yet known.

The researchers found that children with the C version of the gene averaged slightly higher IQ scores when breastfed as babies than those who were not breastfed. This IQ advantage was about 6 to 7 points.

Breastfeeding had no effect on children with two of the G version of the gene. IQ scores were neither advantaged nor disadvantaged.

"Their IQ was still in the normal healthy range," Prof Poulton said.

In total, 90 per cent of the children studied had either one or two of the C version of the gene, and 10 per cent had two G versions of the gene.

Prof Poulton said both genetic makeup and environmental factors were important.

"This shows that the argument is not nature versus nurture any more. We're finding that nature and nurture actually work together to produce health outcomes.

"This is true across all sorts of health areas, including positive outcomes like this study, and work involving mental health disorders."

The research was supported by the Health Research Council (NZ), the National Institute of Mental Health (US), and the Medical Research Council (UK).

Breastfeeding can improve IQ, study finds

[Al-khiyal]

Mercredi 7 novembre 2007 -- L'allaitement maternel pourrait avoir un effet positif sur le développement du quotient intellectuel (QI) de certains enfants, affirme une étude publiée lundi.

Les enfants pour qui l'allaitement s'est révélé bénéfique au niveau du développement cognitif bénéficiait d'une version particulière d'un gène nommé FADS2. Cependant, souligne également cette étude, l'allaitement seul ne suffit pas à augmenter le QI qui dépend également de facteurs environnementaux (famille, milieu social...) et génétiques.

Selon les chercheurs qui ont réalisé cette étude auprès de 3 000 bébés nourris au sein en Grande-Bretagne et en Nouvelle-Zélande, les enfants dotés d'une version particulière du gène FADS2 avaient en moyenne un QI de 6,8 points plus haut que les autres enfants.

Cette différence persiste quel que soit le milieu socio-économique de l'enfant, le QI de la mère, le poids du bébé à la naissance ou l'âge de la mère durant la grossesse.

L'allaitement augmenterait le QI de certains enfants, selon une étude

[Bent_Bladi]

hehe, i didn't stop til i was 2 ... that explains a lot

jk... breastfeeding does a lot of good things - i hate those retarded people that don't do it cuz they think it's not cool

[amalgamate]

Breastfeeding can have a positive effect on the IQ of children when combined with the right genes, says an Otago University study.

It says combined with the right genes BB! your genes don't take you that far.



jk jk!

Love you BB! (...don't know too many 18 year olds who are already juniors in college!)

[Bent_Bladi]

It says combined with the right genes BB! your genes don't take you that far.



jk jk!

Love you BB! (...don't know too many 18 year olds who are already juniors in college!)

not that far huh?

want to have another wit war? *rolls up sleeves*

la2, 7aram - lisa3tek zgheereh

[Al-khiyal]

Breastfed children are brainier, study suggests

May 6, 2008 -- Breastfed babies are more intelligent than those weaned on formula milk, according to the most comprehensive study conducted on the issue.

Doctors followed nearly 14,000 children over six and a half years and found that those who were breastfed fared significantly better in IQ tests.

At the age of six and a half, children who had been exclusively breastfed scored 7.5 points higher in verbal intelligence tests and 5.9 points higher in overall IQ tests. Teachers also rated the breastfed children higher at reading, writing and solving mathematical problems.

The finding, which confirms earlier research, raises the question of whether it is breast milk itself or associated maternal care that is responsible for boosting the intelligence of developing babies. Previous studies have hinted that breastfeeding increases intelligence, but the effect has proved hard to nail down.

One problem is that in nearly every study so far the mothers involved have chosen beforehand whether or not they plan to breastfeed. It meant doctors could not rule out the possibility that breastfeeding women were simply brighter, or were likely to interact more with their children. In the latest study, researchers led by Michael Kramer, a professor of paediatrics at McGill University in Montreal, studied children born at 31 maternity hospitals across Belarus between 1996 and 1997. They got around the problems faced by earlier studies by randomly assigning half of the hospitals to adopt a breastfeeding promotion programme, while the rest acted as a control group and continued to offer their usual post-natal advice.

Between 2002-05 the doctors interviewed 13,889 of the children and their mothers, around half of whom had attended clinics promoting breastfeeding. Of mothers who visited clinics that advocated breastfeeding, 43% fed their babies only on breast milk until the age of three months, compared with 6.4% of women at the control clinics.

"Our study provides the strongest evidence to date that prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding makes kids smarter," said Kramer, whose research appears in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Figures last year from the UK Infant Feeding Survey revealed 76% of women started breastfeeding their babies, but less than half continued to breastfeed their babies beyond six weeks.

The researchers' study fails to answer the question of what it is about breastfeeding that boosts intelligence. "It remains unclear whether the observed cognitive benefits of breastfeeding are due to some constituent of breast milk, or are related to the physical and social interactions inherent in breastfeeding," Kramer writes.

Breast milk is known to contain essential long-chain fatty acids and a chemical called insulin-like growth factor, which alone might be responsible for boosting intelligence.