Breast-feeding may reduce risk of obesity
By Achong Tanjong
Brudirect.com
Mar 03, 2003

"Breast-fed infants are less likely than their formula-fed peers to become obese as children, according to a study from Czech Republic. Among the more than 33,000 young children researchers followed, of those who had been breast-fed in infancy only nine per cent were obese, compared with 12 per cent of those who never breast-fed. The findings suggest that breast-feeding has a modest protective effect against obesity. While some past studies have also found that breast-feeding may reduce the risk of obesity, experts have been critical that other factors such as maternal obesity and social class might be responsible for the effect. The reports said socioeconomic status of the breast-fed and non-breast-fed children was very similar. This suggests that the effect of breast-feeding on the prevalence of obesity is not confounded by socio-economic status. According to previous reports, statistics showed that only 12.4 per cent of mothers breast-feed their infants in Brunei. The number is very much lower from world-wide breast-fed rate of 35 per cent. WHO has put up effort to encourage mother to breast-feed their infants for at least up to six month or stop according to the teaching of Al-Quran that is when the child reaches the age of two...."