According to a research conducted by Dr. Ute M. Schaefer-Graf and colleagues it is found that breast fed babies are less obese. They say that during pregnancy some women suffer from diabetes called gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) which results in them having a large baby. But this can be avoided if the mother breast-feeds her child. It was also found that parental obesity and excessive intrauterine growth resulted in early childhood obesity. The results are published in the medical journal Diabetes Care. The researchers from Vivantes Medical Center and Charite University Medical Center in Berlin, Germany, analysed about 324 children.
Women with GDM who participated in the Diabetes Prenatal Care Clinic of Vivantes Medical Center between 1995 and 2000 were asked to participate in this study along with their children. The mothers were also asked about patterns of breast-feeding. About 74 % said that they breast-fed their infants. 24 % of the children were breast-fed for up to 3 months, and 50 % for more than 3 months. 28 % of the children were overweight. It was concluded that the shorter the duration of breast-feeding, the higher the children's body mass index (BMI). Schaefer-Graf and colleagues found that the chance of becoming obese among infants who were breast-fed for more than 3 months reduced by up to 50 %. Hence they suggested that obese women with GDM should be asked to breast-feed their babies to reduce obese kids.
