title: Association of breastfeeding with postmenopausal visceral adiposity among three racial/ethnic groups.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We examined the association between breastfeeding and postmenopausal visceral adiposity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were community-dwelling women aged 55-80 from the Caucasian Rancho Bernardo Study, the Filipino Women's Health Study, and the Health Assessment Study of African-American Women who had visceral adipose tissue (VAT) measurements by computed tomography between 2000 and 2002. Linear regression was used to determine the association between average breastfeeding duration per child and VAT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In Caucasian, Filipino, and African-American women, average number of live births was 3, 4, and 3; average breastfeeding duration was 4.3, 1.8, and 5.1 months, respectively. Filipino women had more live births, were more likely to breastfeed, and breastfed shorter durations. African-American women had lower VAT, despite higher subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), BMI, and waist girth. Women who breastfed >3 months on average had 8.8 cm(3) lower VAT than women who breastfed ≤3 months, independent of covariates. Women who initiated breastfeeding had lower BMI and waist girth than those who did not, but they did not differ by VAT unless they breastfed >3 months. Associations were independent of race/ethnicity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results suggest breastfeeding initiation is associated with reduced BMI and smaller waist girth, and breastfeeding >3 months is associated with lower postmenopausal VAT.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Public Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA; Division of Epidemiology, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
authors.forename: Richard F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Armenta
authors.forename: Donna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kritz-Silverstein
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wingard
authors.forename: Gail A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Laughlin
authors.forename: Wilma
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wooten
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Barrett-Connor
authors.forename: Maria Rosario
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Araneta
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity / Q000502:physiology*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000208:ethnology*; D002648:Child; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D050152:Intra-Abdominal Fat / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000208:ethnology*; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000208:ethnology*; D011379:Prognosis; D044469:Racial Groups; D011859:Radiography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology