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Further reinforcing the previously reported beneficial effects of breast milk on brain functions such as intelligence (IQ), a new study has found that children, aged 7-8 years, who were breastfed had significantly higher verbal and performance IQ scores than those who were not.
- Researchers studied 280 seven to eight year old children who had been born at very low birthweights.
- The children were assessed on measures of verbal and performance intelligence quotient (IQ) and mothers were questioned as to whether they had chosen to provide expressed breast milk at birth and the total duration of breastfeeding.
- Approximately 73% of mothers provided expressed breast milk and 37% breast fed for four months or longer.
- Increasing duration of breast milk feeding was associated with increases in both verbal IQ and performance IQ.
- Children breast fed for eight months or longer had average verbal IQ scores that were 10.2 points higher and performance IQ scores that were 6.2 points higher than those who did not receive breast milk.
"These findings add to a growing body of evidence to suggest that breast milk feeding may have small long term benefits for child cognitive development," the authors conclude.
Archives of Diseases of Childhood Fetal and Neonatal Edition, January 2001; 84: F23-F27
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