Breastfeeding Duration Associated With Cognition

Summary: Longer breastfeeding duration was associated with increased scores in cognitive tests in children from 5 to 14 years of age.

Source: PLOS

Breastfeeding duration is associated with improved cognitive scores at ages 5 through 14, even after controlling for socioeconomic position and maternal cognitive ability, according to a new study published this week in PLOS ONE  by Reneé Pereyra-Elías, Maria Quigley and Claire Carson of the University of Oxford, U.K.

Previous studies have found an association between breastfeeding and standardized intelligence test scores; however, a causal relationship is still debated.

Improved cognitive outcomes could potentially be explained by other characteristics—such as socioeconomics and maternal intelligence—of the women who breastfeed their babies.

In the new study, the researchers analyzed data on 7,855 infants born in 2000-2002 and followed until age 14 as part of the UK Millennium Cohort Study.

The cohort was not specifically designed to address the association between breastfeeding and cognition but included the collection of information on duration of any breastfeeding, duration of exclusive breastfeeding, verbal cognitive scores at ages 5, 7, 11, and 14, spatial cognitive scores at ages 5, 7 and 11, as well as potential confounders including socioeconomic characteristics and maternal cognition as based on a vocabulary test.

The unadjusted associations found that longer breastfeeding durations were associated with higher verbal and spatial cognitive scores at all ages up to ages 14 and 11, respectively.

After taking the differences in socioeconomic position and maternal cognitive ability into account, children breastfed for longer scored higher in cognitive measures up to age 14, in comparison to children who were not breastfed.

Longer breastfeeding durations were associated with mean cognitive scores 0.08 to 0.26 standard deviations higher than the mean cognitive score of those who never breastfed.

This difference may seem small for an individual child but could be important at the population level.

The authors conclude that a modest association between breastfeeding duration and cognitive scores persists after adjusting for socioeconomics and maternal intelligence.

This shows a woman breastfeeding
The authors conclude that a modest association between breastfeeding duration and cognitive scores persists after adjusting for socioeconomics and maternal intelligence. Image is in the public domain

The authors add: “There is some debate about whether breastfeeding a baby for a longer period of time improves their cognitive development.

“In the U.K., women who have more educational qualifications and are more economically advantaged tend to breastfeed for longer. In addition, this group tends to score more highly on cognitive tests.

“These differences could explain why babies who breastfeed for longer do better in cognitive assessments. However, in our study, we found that even after taking these differences into account, children breastfed for longer scored higher in cognitive measures up to age 14, in comparison to children who were not breastfed.

“This difference may seem small for an individual child but could be important at the population level.”

About this breastfeeding and cognition research news

Author: Hanna Abdallah
Source: PLOS
Contact: Hanna Abdallah – PLOS
Image: The image is in the public domain

Original Research: Open access.
To what extent does confounding explain the association between breastfeeding duration and cognitive development up to age 14? Findings from the UK Millennium Cohort Study” by Pereyra-Elías R et al. PLOS ONE


Abstract

To what extent does confounding explain the association between breastfeeding duration and cognitive development up to age 14? Findings from the UK Millennium Cohort Study

Background

Breastfeeding duration is associated with improved cognitive development in children, but it is unclear whether this is a causal relationship or due to confounding. This study evaluates whether the observed association is explained by socioeconomic position (SEP) and maternal cognitive ability.

Methods

Data from 7,855 singletons born in 2000–2002 and followed up to age 14 years within the UK Millennium Cohort Study were analysed. Mothers reported breastfeeding duration, and children’s cognitive abilities were assessed at 5, 7, 11, and 14 years using validated measures. Standardised verbal (age 5 to 14) and spatial (age 5 to 11) cognitive scores were compared across breastfeeding duration groups using multivariable linear mixed-effects models (repeated outcome measures).

Results

At all ages, longer breastfeeding durations were associated with higher cognitive scores after accounting for the child’s own characteristics. Adjustment for SEP approximately halved the effect sizes. Further adjustment for maternal cognitive scores removed the remaining associations at age 5, but not at ages 7, 11 and 14 (e.g.: verbal scores, age 14; breastfed ≥12 months vs never breastfed: 0.26 SD; 95%CI: 0.18, 0.34).

Conclusion

The associations between breastfeeding duration and cognitive scores persist after adjusting for SEP and maternal cognitive ability, however the effect was modest.

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  1. Interesting study. I wonder though if there needs to be further definition of “brest fed.” Does this include children breast feeding until a later age that eventually have their milk from a bottled at a daycare facility (or other non-home setting), or does this only include getting milk almost exclusively from mother’s breast directly. I’d imagine that the higher cognitive scores might follow the latter and might be more connected to early formative years spent more connected to the mother/family rather than feeding off of moms milk at a center where they’d be with many other children and not have the same close care or relationship with the teachers/care-takers. That’s not to say you cannot have a relationship with your teachers, just that the 1st & most important one in your life may still be mom.

  2. I believe the higher cognition is also due to the fact that when mothers are nursing they are holding their babies and talking to them which is encouraging neural development as well as vocabulary. Often times when children are old enough to hold their bottle they are left to feed themselves, and therefore are not exposed to the physical touch as well as the neural stimulation of mother to child communication.

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