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. 2024 Sep 25;16(9):e70217.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.70217. eCollection 2024 Sep.

Does Breast Feeding Protect Mothers From Obesity?

Süleyman Coşgun  1 , Derya Ünal  2 , Aysun Çalışkan Kartal  3 , Osman Bedir  4
Affiliations

Does Breast Feeding Protect Mothers From Obesity?

Süleyman Coşgun et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Background: Hepatosteatosis, which we frequently observe today with change in lifestyle, is often unnoticed, but preventable and reversible; if not prevented, it can lead to serious comorbidities. There is contradicting evidence in the literature; we believe that breastfeeding has a protective effect on hepatosteatosis. In this cross-sectional study we conducted, we aimed to examine the relationship between breastfeeding duration, metabolic parameters and fatty liver.

Methods: We examined the data of 135 patients aged 20-40 years who have had at least one pregnancy and were admitted to our polyclinic. Forty-five healthcare staff who never breastfed were included in the control group. Measurements of height and weight were taken, and number of children and total breastfeeding time were questioned. Blood values were measured to calculate insulin resistance, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) fibrosis score and Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) score.

Results: Consequently, there was no significant correlation between total breastfeeding time and body mass index (BMI), NAFLD fibrosis score, Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) value and hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C). When two groups were formed as patients breastfeeding for less than six months and patients breastfeeding for more than six months, a significant difference in BMI was observed between these two groups (p: 0.02). There was a significant relationship between BMI and NAFLD (p: 0.00) and HOMA-IR (p: 0.00). It was observed that there was a significant difference between BMI FIB-4 and NAFLD fibrosis scores of the control group and breastfed group.

Conclusions: Lactation should be maintained for at least six months for maternal health together with the baby's health, and more comprehensive studies should be conducted for long-term data.

Keywords: body mass index; breastfeeding; fibrosis score; hepatosteatosis; steatosis nash.

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Conflict of interest statement

Human subjects: Consent was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Kutahya Health Sciences Univercity Ethics Committee issued approval 2021/93, 20/10/2021. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

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