Associations between breastfeeding duration and overweight/obese among children aged 5–10: a focus on racial/ethnic disparities in California

Abstract

Research on the association between breastfeeding and childhood obesity and research on racial/ethnic differences in breastfeeding both show inconsistencies. The current study examines: 1) whether immigrant Hispanic women have higher rates of breastfeeding compared to non-Hispanic (three separate groups: African-American, Asian/Pacific Islander, and White) and U.S.-born Hispanic women; 2) whether children who were breastfed are less likely to be overweight/obese compared to children who were not breastfed; and 3) whether associations between breastfeeding and weight status vary by race/ethnicity/nativity. The study builds on prior literature using representative data from the Geographic Research On Wellbeing study (GROW, 2012–2013) and focusing on ages 5–10 years, an age group that has not been well studied (N = 2675 mother/child dyads). Logistic regression was used to investigate the odds of child obesity (≥95th%) and child overweight (≥85th%) in a series of models: unadjusted (each variable individually), demographic (child's sex, child's age, mother's age, mother's race/ethnicity, and mother's marital status), socioeconomic status (mother's education and family income), and full model (mother's BMI); with breastfeeding included in all models. Interactions between race/ethnicity and breastfeeding duration were also examined. African-American (9.54%) and white (32.8%) women had the lowest and highest rates of ever breastfeeding, respectively. White women breastfed the longest (M = 10.52 months, SE = 0.028) and U.S.-born Hispanic women breastfed the shortest (M = 7.05 months, SE = 0.41), on average. Children of African-American and U.S.-born Hispanic mothers had higher odds of being overweight/obese (74–75%) compared with children of white mothers. No associations were found between breastfeeding duration and child's weight status in adjusted models, nor was there a significant interaction between mother's race/ethnicity and breastfeeding duration on child's weight status; however, mother's own weight status was a significant driver of child's weight status and explained the racial/ethnic disparities. These results provide evidence in favor of there being no association between breastfeeding and childhood obesity.

Systematic review and meta‐analysis of breastfeeding and later overweight or obesity expands on previous study for World Health Organization

“…After excluding duplicates, 17,871 titles were examined, and after excluding those studies that were clearly irrelevant, 269 abstracts were reviewed, and 58 19–76 new studies were identified in the update of the systematic review (Figure 1). The meta‐analysis comprised 169 estimates on the association of breastfeeding with overweight or obesity, drawn from 159 studies including 58 that were published since our previous review (Table S1).…”

Hospital Adhering to the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding Predicts Exclusive Breastfeeding in Latinx Mothers

“…This rate of EBF differs compared to Latinx countries; for example, it was reported that EBF in Mexico was 91% at three weeks of life, in Brazil 57.8% at two months old infants, and in Nicaragua was close to 100% at hospital discharge (Ávila-Ortiz et al, 2020; Machado et al, 2020; Nabower et al, 2020). Even though it is evident that the Latinx women participating in this study wanted to feed their babies with their breast milk, as shown by the mean score on the IFI scale (12 over a total of 16), most of them supplemented with formula when they were hospitalized, which jeopardizes exclusive BF and may produce overfeeding in Latinx babies increasing their risk of obesity (Cartagena et al, 2018; Horta et al, 2023; Vazquez & Cubbin, 2019). We found that 60% of mothers who supplemented with formula had no specific reported reason for supplementation in their medical records.…”

The Relationship between Mothers' Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Perceptions and Breastfeeding Success in Postpartum Period

“…Anne sütü, ani bebek ölüm sendromu ve diyabet gibi sorunlara karşı da koruyucudur. Yapılan çalışmalar anne sütünün, bebeğin patojenlere karşı immün sistem bağışıklığını arttırdığını (3), yenidoğan ölüm riskini azalttığını (4), çocukluk çağı obezitesi için koruyucu bir faktör olduğunu (5) ve annede over kanser riskini azalttığını ortaya koymaktadırlar (1).…”