title: Breastfeeding in the 21st century: epidemiology, mechanisms, and lifelong effect.
abstract: The importance of breastfeeding in low-income and middle-income countries is well recognised, but less consensus exists about its importance in high-income countries. In low-income and middle-income countries, only 37% of children younger than 6 months of age are exclusively breastfed. With few exceptions, breastfeeding duration is shorter in high-income countries than in those that are resource-poor. Our meta-analyses indicate protection against child infections and malocclusion, increases in intelligence, and probable reductions in overweight and diabetes. We did not find associations with allergic disorders such as asthma or with blood pressure or cholesterol, and we noted an increase in tooth decay with longer periods of breastfeeding. For nursing women, breastfeeding gave protection against breast cancer and it improved birth spacing, and it might also protect against ovarian cancer and type 2 diabetes. The scaling up of breastfeeding to a near universal level could prevent 823,000 annual deaths in children younger than 5 years and 20,000 annual deaths from breast cancer. Recent epidemiological and biological findings from during the past decade expand on the known benefits of breastfeeding for women and children, whether they are rich or poor.
authors: International Center for Equity in Health, Post-Graduate Programme in Epidemiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil. Electronic address: cvictora@equidade.org.
authors: Cesar G
authors: CG
authors: Victora
authors: Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (MCA), WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors: Rajiv
authors: R
authors: Bahl
authors: International Center for Equity in Health, Post-Graduate Programme in Epidemiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil.
authors: Aluísio J D
authors: AJ
authors: Barros
authors: International Center for Equity in Health, Post-Graduate Programme in Epidemiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil.
authors: Giovanny V A
authors: GV
authors: França
authors: Department of Economics, University of Waterloo, ON, Canada.
authors: Susan
authors: S
authors: Horton
authors: Data and Analytics Section, Division of Data, Research, and Policy, UNICEF, New York, NY, USA.
authors: Julia
authors: J
authors: Krasevec
authors: University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire, Coventry, UK.
authors: Simon
authors: S
authors: Murch
authors: WHO Collaborating Centre for Training and Research in Newborn Care, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India.
authors: Mari Jeeva
authors: MJ
authors: Sankar
authors: Institute for International Programs, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors: Neff
authors: N
authors: Walker
authors: Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (MCA), WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors: Nigel C
authors: NC
authors: Rollins
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology; D001942:Breast Feeding; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D046688:Child Mortality; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000453:epidemiology; D007182:Income; D007360:Intelligence; D008310:Malocclusion / Q000453:epidemiology; D008428:Maternal Mortality; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology