The Association Between Breastfeeding and Maternal Risk of Heart Disease
by Anne Eglash MD, IBCLC, FABM
The article for this week focuses on a large systematic review and meta-analysis on the maternal risk of heart disease in association with breastfeeding history. The media gave this topic significant attention last week.
In the last 13 years several research studies have been published documenting an association between lower maternal cardiovascular risk in association with breastfeeding. In fact, the 2021 Scientific Statement of the American Heart Association on Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Women concluded that lactation and breastfeeding may lower a woman’s later cardiometabolic risk.
The goal of this meta-analysis was to more precisely describe the relationship between breastfeeding and risk of heart disease by pooling data from 8 studies, totaling 1,192,700 parous women. Baseline data was collected between 1986-2009, when the subjects were an average of 51.3 years of age. Their mean lifetime duration of breastfeeding was 15.6 months. The researchers found that women who ever breastfed had an 11% decreased relative risk of cardiovascular events, including coronary heart disease, stroke, and fatal cardiovascular disease events. The risk for these diseases decreased further with longer duration of breastfeeding, for up to 12 months cumulative years of breastfeeding.
- Oxytocin is associated with lower blood pressure, lower fat mass, and reduced risk of diabetes.
- Lactoferrin in breastmilk reduces inflammation in the mother’s arteries.
- Breastfeeding women have more weight loss postpartum than women who don’t breastfeed.
- Breastfeeding helps to reset the metabolism, by improving blood sugar and cholesterol metabolism.
- Breastfeeding reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes later in life.
- Breastfeeding women drink less coffee, which is a risk factor for heart disease.