by Anne Eglash MD, IBCLC, FABM

Do you ever wonder how much healthier your community would be if the breastfeeding rates increased? Well, now you have access to hard data to answer such questions. A group of researchers developed a free online tool that allows anyone to calculate the change in national or state population health parameters due to a rise or fall in breastfeeding rates.

The calculator measures the impact of breastfeeding rates on pediatric disease, including acute lymphoblastic leukemia, acute otitis media, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, gastrointestinal infection, hospitalization for lower respiratory tract infection, obesity in non-Hispanic whites to age 4, necrotizing enterocolitis, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. It also measures changes in the incidence of maternal disease, including breast cancer, pre-menopausal ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and myocardial infarction.

In addition to changes in disease rates, it calculates the changes in the number of maternal and infant deaths, total medical costs, and societal costs related to breastfeeding rates.

I played around with the calculator for the United States. The calculator tells me that we had a 3-month exclusive breastfeeding rate of 46.6% in 2014.

Based on this calculator, what do you think would have happened if our 3-month exclusive breastfeeding rate in 2014 had a slight rise to 51.6% (only 5% increase), with all other rates staying the same? Choose 2 correct answers:

1. The USA would have saved approximately $80.7 million per year in medical costs.
2. The USA would have saved $40.2 million per year in medical costs.
3. The USA would have saved $20.2 million per year in medical costs.
4. The USA would have seen 8 fewer maternal deaths.
5. The USA would have seen 12 fewer maternal deaths.
6. The USA would have seen 15 fewer maternal deaths.