title: Exclusive breastfeeding is inversely associated with risk of childhood overweight in a large Chinese cohort.
abstract: The association between breastfeeding status and childhood overweight is inconclusive. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relation between exclusive breastfeeding and childhood overweight risk in children 4-5 y of age in Southeast China. Among 97,424 children enrolled between 1999 and 2009 in the Jiaxing Birth Cohort, 42,550 of them were included in the final analysis with complete records on breastfeeding status and anthropometric measurements at 4-5 y of age (48-60 mo). Overweight and being at risk of overweight were identified as a body mass index (BMI)-for-age Z-score ≥ 2 and between 1 and 2, respectively. After 4-5 y of follow-up, 4845 (11.4%) children were identified as being at risk of overweight, and 1343 (3.16%) children were overweight. Adjusting for important child and maternal characteristics, longer duration of breastfeeding was associated with lower risk of childhood overweight (P-trend = 0.009) and being at risk of overweight (P-trend < 0.001). Children exclusively breastfed for 3-5 mo and ≥6 mo had 13% (RR = 0.87; 95% CI: 0.77, 0.99) and 27% (RR = 0.73; 95% CI: 0.56, 0.95) lower risk of becoming overweight compared with children exclusively breastfed for <1 mo, respectively. In boys, there were inverse associations of 3-5 mo (RR = 0.83; 95% CI: 0.71, 0.98) or ≥6 mo (RR = 0.65; 95% CI: 0.47, 0.91) of exclusive breastfeeding against becoming overweight, but there were no significant associations in girls (3-5 mo: RR = 0.96, 95% CI: 0.76, 1.22; ≥6 mo: RR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.60, 1.41). In conclusion, the present findings suggest that longer duration of exclusive breastfeeding is associated with lower risk of becoming overweight in Chinese children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Ju-Sheng
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Jiaxing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Jiaxing, China; and.
authors.forename: Huijuan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Jiaxing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Jiaxing, China; and.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Jiaxing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Jiaxing, China; and.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Jiaxing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Jiaxing, China; and.
authors.forename: Chunlei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Jiaxing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Jiaxing, China; and.
authors.forename: Genmei
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Jiaxing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Jiaxing, China; and.
authors.forename: Shanlin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Jiaxing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Jiaxing, China; and.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yi-Min
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China duoli@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Duo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D001942:Breast Feeding; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight / Q000517:prevention & control; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012306:Risk; D012737:Sex Factors