Breastfeeding may prevent type 2 diabetes in mothers

for breast and ovarian cancer in mothers, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The new study began 30 years ago when researchers recruited young women, then 18 to 30 years old, for a study on heart disease.

During that study, researchers also gathered information on pregnancy and breastfeeding. They also tested the women every ¿ve years for diabetes.

That produced information on more than 1,200 women for the new study. Half were black, and half were white. All had at least one live birth.

The researchers adjusted the data to account for other factors that could affect a woman’s risk for type 2 diabetes.

These included income, education, weight, diet quality, physical activity, medication use and other health conditions.

By the end of the 30-year study, 182 of the women had developed type 2 diabetes.

Women who breastfed for six to 12 months had a 48 percent lower risk for type 2 diabetes than women who never breastfed, the ¿ndings showed.

The protective effect of breastfeeding didn’t differ by race or the presence of gestational diabetes, the study found.

Although the study cannot prove a cause-and-effect relationship because it was observational, the researchers suspect that breastfeeding quickly returns the body to a more normal metabolic state.

Other studies have shown that when women breastfeed, their triglycerides — a type of blood fat — and blood sugar levels return to normal more quickly. Breastfeeding moms also secrete less insulin and use fat tissue stores.

Dr. Rekha Kumar is an endocrinologist at New Yorkpresbyterian/weill Cornell Medical Center’s Comprehensive Weight Control Center in New York City. She also thinks that breastfeeding likely has bene¿cial effects on insulin and blood sugar metabolism.

“Breastfeeding makes you more sensitive to the hormone insulin.”

However, she added that larger studies need to be done to duplicate the ¿ndings and to better understand the mechanism behind the protective effect.

Still, Kumar said, “I loved this study. For a long time, we have talked about the bene¿ts of breastfeeding on infants, but we don’t always talk about the long-term bene¿ts for mothers.”

Study author Gunderson said the bene¿ts of breastfeeding may go beyond a reduction in type 2 diabetes.

Because type 2 diabetes is a very strong risk factor for heart disease, it’s possible that breastfeeding could also lead to a reduction in heart disease, which could then potentially reduce health care costs.

The study was published in JAMA Internal Medicine.