Baby milk clue to future health

SubhanAllah, why are we not surprised?

"Formula milk may boost the size of infants excessively, placing them at risk of serious illness later in life, researchers are now warning.

A new study suggests new reasons why breast-feeding is good for babies.

According to the British researchers, breast milk enables a baby to grow at a natural pace.

Writing in the Lancet, the team from the UK Medical Research Council tell how they conducted a series of studies of the impact of early growth on later life.

They found that babies that experienced rapid growth in their early months became prone to obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels - in turn placing them at risk of heart disease and stroke.

Researcher Professor Alan Lucas, director of the MRC's Childhood Nutrition Research Centre, said the researchers had conducted randomised clinical trials over a period of 20 years.

He said: "We assigned babies to different diets and then followed them into adult life. Such studies had not been done before and have taken us over 20 years.

"Now that the results have come through they have greatly changed our understanding of the importance of early nutrition and growth for long-term health.

"The evidence is very strong and supports a clear message. Slower growth as a baby reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke in adult life and the best way to achieve this is to breastfeed."

The researchers' latest analysis of some 216 teenagers finds that breast-fed infants had a 14 per cent better mix of cholesterol than bottle-fed babies by the time they reached their teens.

Researcher Dr Atul Singhal, of the Institute of Child Health, London, said: "Our findings suggest that breastmilk feeding has a major beneficial effect on long-term cardiovascular health."

Lancet 2004; 363: 1571-78; 1642-45"

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