Smart suckers - Literature Review & Commentary - breastfeeding linked to intelligence - Brief Article

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,  Oct, 2002  by Alan R. Gaby

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A group of 973 men and women and another group of 2280 men, all born in Copenhagen, Denmark, between October 1959 and December 1961, were studied prospectively. Intelligence was assessed, using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) at a mean age of 27.2 years in the mixed-sex sample and the Borge Priens Prove (BPP) test at a mean age of 18.7 years in the all-male sample. Longer duration of breastfeeding was associated with significantly higher scores on the Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale WAIS IQs. After adjustment for 13 potentially confounding variables, the mean Full Scale WAIS IQs were 994, 101.7, 102.3, 106.0, and 104.0 for breastfeeding durations of less than 1 month, 2-3 months, 46 months, 7-9 months, and more than 9 months, respectively (p for trend = 0.003). The corresponding mean scores on the BPP were 38.0, 39.2, 39.9, 40.1, and 40.1 (p for trend = 0.01).

Comment: This study demonstrates a significant positive association between duration of breastfeeding and intelligence in two independent samples of young adults. Moreover, this association was independent of a wide range of potential confounding variables. Human milk is rich in docosahexaenoic acid, which plays an important role in brain development. It is likely that other components of breast milk that are lacking in infant formulas are also important. In addition, bonding to the mother early in life could contribute to brain development. Whatever the explanation, it is clear that babies who nestle at the breast outshine those who drink Nestle's from a bottle.

Mortensen EL, at al. The association between duration of breastfeeding and adult intelligence. JAMA 2002;287:2365-2371.

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