Breast feeding and higher grades could be linked (Full Version)

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fiery -> Breast feeding and higher grades could be linked (6/20/2009 5:33:57 PM)

Interesting to read this, though the study group size isn't very big.

quote:

Breastfed babies seem more likely to do well at high school and to go on to attend college than infants raised on a bottle, according to a new U.S. study.

Professors Joseph Sabia from the American University and Daniel Rees from the University of Colorado Denver based their research on 126 children from 59 families, comparing siblings who were breastfed as infants to others who were not.
By comparing siblings, the study was able to account for the influence of a variety of difficult-to-measure factors such as maternal intelligence and the quality of the home environment.


http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE55E09G20090615



evil step dad -> RE: Breast feeding and higher grades could be linked (7/21/2009 11:27:08 AM)

I spent quite a bit of time with research on genetics in college, and there is a gene called desaturase2 or FADS2.  This nurturing effect is significant for the developing brains of infants.  It is somewhat difficult to desribe transcription factors and a convergence of those genes from both parents, but to put it in laymans terms...this gene is responsible for the breakdown of fatty acids in mothers milk.  fatty acids is key to nueron growth in the brain.  Of course the best place to get fatty acids as an infant is through breast milk.  As I recall, the testing done from my research was over about a 7 year period, with 3000 participants, and those being breast fed vs those who were not.  There was a 7% average higher IQ for those babies that were breast fed compared to non-breast fed babies.

Dan



fiery -> RE: Breast feeding and higher grades could be linked (7/23/2009 10:10:13 PM)

That's interesting. I always knew it was better because of the antibodies that could be passed from mother to child to boost their immune system but that was news to me. Thanks for the additional insight, evil step dad. :)

And welcome aboard! Good to have around. :)



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