Breastfeeding is best for babies' brains, study shows

Behavioral studies have long shown that better cognitive outcomes in adolescents and adults were associated with breastfeeding.

 

But the impact of breastfeeding in the brain development of very young children is only now being uncovered with the help of imaging technology.  

 

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines are providing scientists access to data to bolster the advocacy for breastfeeding as the best source of infant nourishment for optimal brain development.

 

Researchers from Brown University used specialized, baby-friendly MRI to study the brain growth of a sample of 133 babies ranging in ages from 10 months to four years.

 

The sample included infants who were breastfed exclusively, infants who received a combination of breast and formula feeding, and infants who were given formula alone.

 

The study found that by the age of 2, babies exclusively breastfed for at least three months had more advanced brain growth than those fed exclusively on formula or were given mixed feeding. 

 

Enhanced development was discovered in the parts of the brain associated with language, emotional function and cognition.  

 

The quiet MRI machines used in the study image babies’ brains while they sleep, and focus on the microstructure of the brain’s white matter. Close scrutiny was given to the amount of myelin covering the nerve fibers as these conduct electrical signals between different parts of the brain.

 

In the study sample, the babies that were exclusively breastfed had the fastest growth of myelinated white matter, the difference becoming pronounced by age 2.

 

Study leader Sean Deoni, assistant professor of engineering at Brown and head of Brown's Advanced Baby Imaging Lab, said, “We're finding the difference [in white matter growth] is on the order of 20 to 30 percent, comparing the breastfed and the non-breastfed kids."

 

The results of the imaging data was backed up by a set of cognitive tests on the older children, which showed that language performance, visual reception and motor control performance was markedly better in the breastfed group.

 

The study further showed that the duration of breastfeeding also had an effect on brain development. Babies who were breastfed longer had significantly more brain growth, especially in the areas of the brain associated with motor function.  

 

Results of the study can be found in the journal NeuroImage and are now available online. (Source: Science Daily)  — TJD, GMA News