Breast-feeding and overweight in Singapore school children.
BACKGROUND
Studies from developed Western countries have shown inconsistent associations between breast-feeding and overweight/obesity in children and adolescents. Few data are available from Asian populations. The purpose of the present study was therefore to evaluate the association between breast-feeding and overweight/obesity in a study of 10-12-year-old children in Singapore.


METHODS
A total of 797 school children (49% girls, 76% Chinese) who participated in the Singapore Cohort Study of the Risk Factors for Myopia (SCORM) were examined. Overweight/obesity (n = 179) was defined as age-sex-specific body mass index (BMI) cut-offs corresponding to BMI of 25 kg/m(2) for overweight and 30 kg/m(2) for obesity at age 18 based on the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) reference.


RESULTS
The prevalence of overweight/obesity was 22.5%. Overall, breast-feeding was not found to be associated with overweight/obesity. After adjusting for potential confounders, the multivariable odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of overweight/obesity was 1.14 (0.80-1.63) for ever breast-fed compared with never breast-fed, 1.00 (0.57-1.72) for breast-fed for >3 months compared to < or =3 months and 0.79 (0.47-1.34) for exclusive/mostly breast-fed compared to partly breast-fed.


CONCLUSIONS
No significant associations were detected among breast-feeding, its type, and duration with overweight/obesity in this Asian cohort of 10-12-year-old children.
Sabanayagam
Charumathi
C
Department of Community, Occupational, and Family Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
Shankar
Anoop
A
Chong
Yap-Seng
YS
Wong
Tien Yin
TY
Saw
Seang Mei
SM
D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012574:Schools / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012846:Singapore / Q000453:epidemiology; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data