I regret a lot of things in my life—big and small
things. One thing that I absolutely do
not regret is that I breastfed my baby despite the not-so-pleasant
circumstances that I was in at the time.
It was never a choice—it was just “do” as we eat or sleep without much
consideration. If you have not heard
enough great things about breastfeeding your child, here is one more food for
thought.
A number of studies have shown that breastfed babies grow
slightly slower and are slightly slimmer than children who are fed with infant
formula. Children who are breastfed also
have a slightly lower incidence of obesity, allergies, diabetes and
inflammatory bowel disease later in life.
The physiological reason behind such observations has not been well
understood--until now. A new study by
researchers from National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, and
the University of Copenhagen seem to have provided one key reason—breast milk
promotes a healthy gut microbiota population in the baby hence setting the
child in the right track for life.
It is known that a healthy gut microbial population is
crucially important for a well-functioning immune system. Babies are born without bacteria in the
gut. So it is interesting to identify
the influence that dietary factors have on gut microbiota development in
children's first three years of life. According
to the study, the nutritional factor that has the greatest impact on the
development of a child's gut flora is whether the child is breastfed. The study shows that breastfeeding promotes
the growth of beneficial lactic acid bacteria in the baby's gut flora, which
are beneficial to the development of the child's immune system.
Gut microbes
change in the first years of life. The
study shows that there are significant changes in the intestinal bacterial
composition from nine to 18 months following cessation of breastfeeding and
other types of food being introduced. However, a child's gut microbiota
continues to evolve right up to the age of three, as it becomes increasingly
complex and also more stable.
So if you
are hesitating about whether to breastfeed your baby, hope this study just
nudged you a little more to the right direction.
Journal
Reference: Bergstrom, T. H. Skov, M. I. Bahl, H. M. Roager, L. B. Christensen,
K. T. Ejlerskov, C. Molgaard, K. F. Michaelsen, T. R. Licht. Establishment of
Intestinal Microbiota during Early Life: a Longitudinal, Explorative Study of a
Large Cohort of Danish Infants. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2014;
80 (9): 2889 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.00342-14
Thanks for
reading!
Connie
connie@cherRuby.com
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