Breast-feeding combats obesity (Community Voices)

The alarming increase in the number of overweight people has affected children of all ages and socioeconomic groups.

Among low income children aged 2 to 5 in California, rates are higher than the national average. Nearly one in five is overweight and an additional one in six is at risk for being overweight.

Given that weight control programs are typically ineffective among children and weight reduction programs are contraindicated in young children, preventive interventions for our youngest children are critical tools for turning this epidemic around.

Scientific evidence has shown that breast-feeding, especially when infants are breast-fed exclusively for more than three months, reduces the risk for obesity.

Breast-fed infants may be better at self-regulating their intake. Mothers can't see how much milk their child is drinking, so they rely on their infant's behavior, not an empty bottle, to signal when their infant is full. Thus breast-fed babies might be better able to regulate their own intake.

Breast-fed infants are more likely than formula-fed infants to try and to accept new foods.

Acceptance of new foods is important because a healthy diet should include a wide variety of foods, especially fruits and vegetables.

Because breast milk contains flavors from foods eaten by the mother, breast-fed infants are exposed to a variety of tastes very early in life. In contrast, all infant formula tastes the same.

Breast-feeding has different effects than formula feeding on infant's metabolism and on hormones such as insulin, which tells the body to store fat.

The breast-feeding-obesity link is now recognized by key government agencies and professional groups, from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Experts at the CDC in Atlanta estimate that 15 percent to 20 percent of obesity could be prevented through breast-feeding.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breast-feeding for the first six months and continued breast-feeding with the addition of appropriate foods, up to at least 1 year of age. Increasing breast-feeding in California would mean between 36,000 to 48,000 fewer overweight children and adolescents.

The Women, Infant and Children Program serves as a primary source of breast-feeding support and nutrition education for low-income women in California.

The local Community Action WIC Program has certified lactation educators and consultants to provide breast-feeding education and support. We provide breast-feeding classes at all our WIC sites which are located throughout Kern County.

A quote from the book "The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living" is illustrative: "It begins at birth. Our very first act after birth is to suck our mother's milk. This is an act of affection, of compassion. Without that act, we cannot survive. That's clear. That's the way of life. That's reality."

Priya Khullar of Bakersfield is a registered dietitian and lactation consultant with the WIC Program. Community Voices is an expanded commentary that may contain up to 500 words, and is part of The Bakersfield Californian's Opinion section. The Californian reserves the right to reprint commentaries in all formats, including on its Web page.

Originally posted at http://www.bakersfield.com/opinion/letters/story/436319.html on Monday, May 5, 2008.

Breast-feeding is best spurring nefarious baby formula marketing

They’re at it again. Or, I guess they’ve never stopped: I just haven’t had contact with their nefarious ways for a while.

I’m talking about the corporations that manufacture and market infant formula, and the subtle methods they use to undermine a new mother’s decision to breast-feed her baby. It is, after all, in their interest that as few women as possible breast-feed successfully or for any length of time: Every time a woman sits down and nurses her baby with her own, homegrown breast milk, the formula hawkers are losing money.

I’ve got my Irish up because of the unsolicited literature and free samples that formula companies have been sending my sister, who will birth her first child any day now. Upon casual reading, the literature seems to support breast-feeding wholeheartedly, in positively glowing terms. But upon a closer read, the words make breast-feeding a baby seem like a choice for a superwoman, not a regular woman.

My sister, like all new mothers, is excited about the future, but understandably apprehensive of the unknown. She plans to breast-feed because she knows it is the healthiest choice for her and her baby. But then she hears the nursing horror stories that other new mothers love to tell, and she gets nervous. Can it be painful? Can your nipples really crack and bleed? Can your breasts really get infected, or come to resemble boulders of hardest rock? It’s all a bit intimidating.

Imagine that you are pregnant, susceptible to the scary sagas of your peers. You worry that you will be the woman who endures those complications and hardships while trying to breast-feed your baby. Then a package comes in the mail, full of free powdered formula, accompanied by carefully written sympathy. There, there, soothes the literature, we all know breast-feeding is best, and noble, and even heroic, but it’s a little tricky.

You may not be able to manage it. But don’t worry: When you fail at this difficult endeavor, we will be there with synthetic food for your baby. Or, you can supplement with our formula; just a feeding here and there; just a few moments for yourself. What the brochure doesn’t tell you is that, statistically, once you start supplementing, your nursing days are numbered. The goal of their lovely prose is to get your baby weaned off of your breast and onto their expensive, inferior stuff.

I am intentionally demonizing the formula companies because I do believe they take marketing tips from the serpent in the Garden of Eden. They use our own fears and misgivings against us, and cast their product in the role of savior.

The fact is, formula and breast milk are not interchangeable! Human breast milk is the perfect, irreplaceable food for human babies. My sister, and just about any new mom, can breast-feed successfully: The female breast is marvelously designed to nourish infants. But breast milk doesn’t add a single dollar to the formula makers’ bottom lines. And so they declare war.

Source: The Bakersfield Californian, Friday, Mar 21 2008

Breastfeeding: Raising Bakersfield

Breast-feeding combats obesity (Community Voices)

Breast-feeding is best spurring nefarious baby formula marketing