Breastfed Children Have Less Mental Health Issues

NewsBot · 10-30-2008, 10:40 AM

(Psych Central News) Children who are breastfed are less likely to suffer from behavioral or mental health issues than that who are not breastfed, finds a new study. Researchers looked at whether breastfeeding is associated with decreased behavioral problems and psychiatric illness during childhood. Using 2003 National Survey of Children’s Health data from 102,353 interviews of [...]

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From Psych Central News.

color · 10-31-2008, 11:08 AM

Thanks for posting this, but I cannot help but question this when another article states that ADHD is most likely the result of a faulty gene...So how can breastfeeding make up for genetics? Is it that breastfeeding may inhibit ADHD, though not really prevent it, I wonder??

Just thinking out loud -- thanks for any feedback! My 6 1/2 YO son brought up the "I wish I were dead" speech already, and I'm scared. My family has some kind of mystery neurodegenerative disorder in the deck, and I'm getting anxious because I just read something re: mental illness and neurodegeneration, a link...I try to be as preventative as possible as a mother (making sure that he remains active, uses his brain as much as possible, eats well, takes a multivitamin daily, etc.) and that was the driving force for my choosing to breastfeed years ago. But now is my choice actually meaningless, since genetics is a precursor?

Thanks for listening,
Chris

mrsD · 10-31-2008, 11:19 AM

Mothers who eat a diet high in transfats, also affect the brain development of their babies.

Quote:

Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Apr;87(4):887-95.Click here to read Links
Maternal n-3, n-6, and trans fatty acid profile early in pregnancy and term birth weight: a prospective cohort study.
van Eijsden M, Hornstra G, van der Wal MF, Vrijkotte TG, Bonsel GJ.

Department of Epidemiology, Documentation, and Health Promotion, Municipal Health Service, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. mveijsden@ggd.amsterdam.nl

BACKGROUND: Maternal n-3, n-6, and trans fatty acids are claimed to affect fetal growth, yet evidence is limited. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the association between maternal n-3, n-6, and trans fatty acids measured early in pregnancy and fetal growth. DESIGN: Amsterdam pregnant women (n = 12 373) were invited to complete a questionnaire (response 67%) and donate blood around the 12th pregnancy week for nutrient analysis. For 4336 women, fatty acid concentrations were measured in plasma phospholipids (gas-liquid chromatography). Associations of these concentrations with birth weight and small-for-gestational-age (SGA) risk were analyzed (liveborn singleton term deliveries, n = 3704). RESULTS: Low concentrations of individual n-3 fatty acids and 20:3n-6, the precursor of arachidonic acid (20:4n-6), but high concentrations of the other n-6 fatty acids and the main dietary trans fatty acid (18:1n-9t) were associated with lower birth weight (estimated difference in univariate analysis -52 to -172 g for extreme quintile compared with middle quintile). In general, SGA risk increased accordingly. After adjustment for physiologic, lifestyle-related and sociodemographic factors, low concentrations of most n-3 fatty acids and 20:3n-6 and high concentrations of 20:4n-6 remained associated with lower birth weight (-52 to -57 g), higher SGA risk, or both (odds ratios: 1.38-1.50). Infants of the 7% of women with the most adverse fatty acid profile were on average 125 g lighter and twice as likely to be small for gestational age. CONCLUSION: An adverse maternal fatty acid profile early in pregnancy is associated with reduced fetal growth, which, if confirmed, gives perspective for the dietary prevention of lower birth weight.

PMID: 18400711 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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* Similar effects on infants of n-3 and n-6 fatty acids supplementation to pregnant and lactating women. [Pediatrics. 2001]
* Associations of seafood and elongated n-3 fatty acid intake with fetal growth and length of gestation: results from a US pregnancy cohort. [Am J Epidemiol. 2004]
* Association between short interpregnancy intervals and term birth weight: the role of folate depletion. [Am J Clin Nutr. 2008]
* Infant plasma trans, n-6, and n-3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acids are related to maternal plasma fatty acids, length of gestation, and birth weight and length. [Am J Clin Nutr. 2001]
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Studies like this one continue to show up at PubMed. I have been reading them back in time for YEARS.

The reality of ADHD being genetic is not totally proven.
And the reality of many other things being mistakenly diagnosed as ADHD may in fact relate to dietary practices of both the mother during gestation and the infant after birth.

Another factor is that cholesterol in human milk is much higher than in Cows milk. So is Glutamine.
http://www.jacn.org/cgi/content/full/19/4/434

We know that low cholesterol in the mother (pregnant females CANNOT use cholesterol lowering meds) leads to a form of autism in the infants. Cholesterol is very important to the developing brain.
http://www.breastfeeding-mom.com/nut...east-milk.html

This chart is interesting:
http://74.125.95.104/search?q=cache:...lnk&cd=1&gl=us

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