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Breastfeeding May Protect Mom's Heart

Lactation linked to decreased risk of heart ailments later on

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff

Posted Dec 22, 2009 2:22 PM CST

(Newser) – Mothers who breastfeed their children can expect a personal benefit down the road: A new study has found they are five times less likely than women who don't breastfeed to develop calcification in their major arteries—build-up whose presence "might lead to symptomatic heart disease," one of the researchers tells HealthDay. The study looked at women between the ages of 45 and 58 who had had at least one child.

The study joins a growing stable of research that links breastfeeding to a mother's heart health. The researchers surmise that lactation makes use of fat stored up during pregnancy; if it is not expended, it can lead to calcification of the arteries. The study found that 32% of non-breastfeeders had coronary artery calcification, compared to 17% of others. Some 39% had aortic calcification compared to 17% of those who had lactated. The authors recommend at least 3 months of breastfeeding for the desired preventative effect.

Breastfeeding...not just good for baby?
Breastfeeding...not just good for baby?   (Shutterstock)
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During pregnancy, a woman's body stores fat that it expects to release during lactation. If women don't breast-feed, then the body has to deal with excessive fat. - Dr. Eleanor Schwarz, University of Pittsburgh

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 3 comments
riffran
Dec 23, 2009 10:07 AM CST
cool article..I plan on trying to save the wifeys heart when I get off work..she aint lactating but it don't hurt to try..lmao
Toon
Dec 23, 2009 8:41 AM CST
deedles, your long winded rambles show how little you know. If breast feeding were so great then why did women die before formula? Modern medicine. Bottle feed just happened to occur around the same time as medical advances reduced maternal deaths. Doctors and hospitals can remedy blood loss and infections from either the ripping and tearing that can happen during the delivery or from the raw wound left from when placenta detaches from the uterus, and give us the ability to do c-sections and abortions safely when problems are found. We can thank doctors for the extreme low number of deaths that occur during and soon after childbirth. More briefly, breast feed for a year, don't rely on breast feeding, or a low calorie diet as birth control, smart women don't use the rhythm method, cycles are regular from year to year, abortions are sometimes needed when a planned pregnancy goes wrong, any one could get raped, despite intelligence, age or gender .
brawne
Dec 23, 2009 7:14 AM CST
You miss the point. Breast feeding is lipo for free. Those bags on your thighs even though you weigh 110? That be your body saving up for that baby that you might have in a famine. Female starved corpses in concentration camps still had fat on their outer thighs, cause that is nature's way. We are animals. Breast feeding is great for mom and great for baby's immune system and later ability to emotionally connect cause they stare in mom's eyes during breast feeding. Bottle feeding is a baby staring at the bottle. The only thing it destroys is your breasts. But, we got surgery for that so suckle till that puppy can talk. Not till they can unbutton your shirt--that is a tad odd, but a bright kid talks before two. But, if you ain't into the kid hanging off you thing--just do it for three weeks. That is all the time it takes for that kid to get your immune response. And this is bogus science created by an actuarial. If breast feeding were so great than why did women die before formula? This is just about estrogen. Women have less heart problems then men till they lose estrogen and then oops. Breast feeding keeps you in perpetual estrogen land. If, you never give that kid anything but the breast and eat less than 2000 calories you won't ovulate. Nature's birth control--before women figured out that they were only fertile five days a month. That's how you can spot a smart woman--she knows that her cycle isn't regular month to month, but year to year and a really smart woman tracks that from thirteen forward and never ever needs an abortion. But, a smart girl can get raped and you know what--who gets to tell her to live with it? If you can? More power to you. I just never felt that I mattered that much in the scheme of life to make a choice for someone who is already in agony. If I could do that--why can't I tell her what kind of car to buy? If the government taking my gun is an outrage, then why is my interference in a situation that is not mine not an equal outrage? My gun kills--abortion kills. You can't be for both--it is illogical.

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