The impact of breast feeding in prevention of obesity in children

¯Abstract Background: Some factors in the infancy can lead to a deleterious effect on childhood obesity. Finding of such factors can help in the primary prevention of this disorder in children which is related to obesity in adulthood. Objective: To compare the birth weight, frequency and the duration of breast feeding during infancy in obese children and controls. Methods: This case-control study was performed in 2003 among 140 children aged between 2-12 years with obesity (BMI> 95th age and gender-specific percentile) and an equal number of age and gender-matched controls from among the neighbors of the cases. Birth weight was recorded from the nursery card or the growth chart on the vaccination card. The frequency and duration of breast feeding were recorded according to mothers’ responses. Data were analyzed by SPSS 11 using the student t and chi square tests at P<0.05. Findings: The mean birth weight was not significantly different between case and controls. The frequency and duration of breast feeding was significantly lower in cases than the controls. Conclusion: The frequency and duration of breast feeding in obese children were significantly lower than controls. This emphasizes the importance of breast feeding to help the primary prevention of obesity and many non-communicable diseases later in life.