For the twentieth consecutive year, Aug.1-7th marks World Breastfeeding Week, an international initiative to support women so they can provide the best feeding and care for their infants and young children.
It got me thinking: does breastfeeding affect a person's longevity? Turns out, studying the long-term effects of breastfeeding is no simple scientific exercise. First, researchers have to identify whether a group of adults was exclusively breastfed and for how long, then track their disease development (and ultimately mortality) over many years and isolate breastfeeding as the sole distinguishing factor among study subjects. Phew! Not an easy task, but one that has been looked at nonetheless.
Find out what conclusions a number of long-term studies have come to about breastfeeding and longevity, by clicking here.
Further reading: see what challenges are inherent in longitudinal research, observational studies, and epidemiology in general.
