Does breastfeeding prevent metabolic disease or does metabolic disease prevent breastfeeding?

Abstract

In this issue, Velle-Forbord et\xa0al test the hypothesis that breastfeeding does not improve maternal health per se, but rather, longer breastfeeding is a marker of better maternal health before pregnancy. The authors leverage the HUNT longitudinal cohort study, a registry in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway, a country where there is broad institutional support for breastfeeding, including free prenatal care, free breastfeeding counseling, and one year of paid maternity leave. Breastfeeding rates are high: In the HUNT cohort sample births from 1987 to 2008, 85% of women breastfed for more than 3 months; in 2015 in the US, 82% of all women breastfed. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.