Blast from the Past: Breastfeeding Increases Intelligence

The following article was originally published in the July/ Aug 2002 issue of the Health Hunters Newsletter. Any thoughts?

Breastfeeding increases intelligence

A number of studies have suggested that there is a relationship between breastfeeding and development of intelligence in children. It was assumed that bottle fed babies would catch up with breast fed babies by the time they were young adults.

New information proves differently. Young adults who were breast
fed remain more intelligent. ‘The current study demonstrates a robust association between the duration of breast feeding and adult intelligence in two non-overlapping samples with two different measures of intelligence , ” the researchers reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

They suggest three reasons that breastfeeding may cause this increased intelligence:

1. Breast milk may contain nutrients
that stimulate brain development.
2. Physical and psychological contact between mother and child.
3. Unidentified factors that correlate
with both infant feeding methods and
development of intelligence.