Bottle-fed babies are more likely to become obese

BABIES who are bottle-fed are a quarter more likely to end up obese, research by the World Health Organisation suggests.

The study of almost 30,000 children – the largest of its kind – found breastfeeding had a “protective” effect, reducing the chance of ending up with a weight problem.

Those who were exclusively bottlefed were 25 per cent more likely to become obese, and in some countries the risk was up to 90 per cent higher, according to the research from 16 nations which is being presented at the European Congress of Obesity in Glasgow.

If mothers fed their babies with a mixture of breast and formula milk, the chance of their children ending up obese was 12 per cent higher than if they only had mother’s milk.

Breastfeeding rates in Britain remain among the lowest in the world, and around one in 10 children in the UK is obese by the age of five.

The new international study found that one in six children who are bottlefed was obese by this point.

Experts believe formula milk may cause babies to gain more weight because it is developed from cows’ milk, which has higher levels of protein and may trigger the growth of fat cells.

Breast milk contains hormones that help to regulate energy balance, and affects gut bacteria.

While 73 per cent of babies start off being breast-fed, just 45 per cent receive it after six weeks.

At six months, just 1 per cent are being given only breast milk, as the WHO recommends.

In Spain rates are 28.5 per cent, with rates of 34 per cent in Portugal and 18 per cent in the Netherlands.

The WHO called for more support to help mothers breastfeed and less promotion of formula milk.

Sue Ashmore, director of the Unicef UK’S Baby Friendly Initiative said breastfeeding was “the first defence against the epidemic of obesity”.