Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

LIVE: Thursday 27th June 2024, 18:00-19:30 (CEST)
Join our expert panel to discover why you need to understand the drivers of non-adherence in your patients, and how you can optimize medication adherence in your clinics to drastically improve patient outcomes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
BMC Women's Health
Published in: BMC Women's Health 1/2021

Open Access 01-12-2021 | Obesity | Research

Breastfeeding history and the risk of overweight and obesity in middle-aged women

Authors: Elżbieta Cieśla, Ewa Stochmal, Stanisław Głuszek, Edyta Suliga

Published in: BMC Women's Health | Issue 1/2021

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

The increased metabolic activity required to sustain breastfeeding and its associated milk production helps to reduce maternal fat stores accumulated during pregnancy. This study aims to assess the association between breastfeeding duration and fatness indices in middle-aged women.

Methods

The analysis was carried out in a group of 7500 parous 55.5 ± 5.3 year old women included body mass index, body fat percentage, and waist-to-height ratio. The likelihood of excessive weight or obesity in relation to total breastfeeding time using multivariate logistic regression analyses.

Results

An analysis of adjusted odds ratios did not show significant associations between breastfeeding duration and the risk of excessive weight and obesity in premenopausal women. After menopause, women who gave birth to 2 children and breastfed 1–6 and > 12 months had a lower risk of abdominal obesity (OR 0.70; 95% CI 0.50–0.99; p = 0.042; and OR 0.68; 95% CI 0.47–0.98; p = 0.039). Women who gave birth to 3 or more children and breastfed for 1–6 months, also showed a lower risk of overweight (OR 0.52; 95% CI 0.27–0.99; p = 0.047), compared to those ones that have never breastfed. There was no relationship found between the duration of lactation and the risk of excessive body fat.

Conclusion

Breastfeeding may have some beneficial, long-term effect on the risk of excessive weight and abdominal obesity in women.
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Literature
1.
GBD 2015 Obesity Collaborators, Afshin A, Forounzafar MH, Reitsma MB, Sur P, Estep K, Lee A, et al. Health effects of overweight and obesity in 195 countries over 25 years. N Engl J Med. 2017;377:13–27.
2.
Khan SS, Ning H, Wilkins JT, Allen N, Carnethon M, Berry JD, et al. Association of body mass index with lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease and compression of morbidity. JAMA Cardiol. 2018;3:280–7.PubMedPubMedCentral
3.
Marott SCW, Nordestgaard BG, Tybjærg-Hansen A, Benn M. Causal associations in type 2 diabetes development. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2019;104:1313–24.PubMed
4.
Lauby-Secretan B, Scoccianti C, Loomis D, Grosse Y, Bianchini F, Straif K. Body fatness and cancer—viewpoint of the IARC working group. N Engl J Med. 2016;375:794–8.PubMedPubMedCentral
5.
Hawksworth G, Hales J, Martinez F, Hynes A, Hamilton A, Fernandez V. Pancreatic cancer trends in Europe: epidemiology and risk factors. Med Stud/Studia Medyczne. 2019;35:164–71.
6.
Biskup M, Macek P, Król H, Nogajczyk M, Terek-Derszniak M, Skowronek T, et al. Predictions of the incidence of gastrointestinal cancers in the Świętokrzyskie region by the year 2025. Med Stud/Studia Medyczne. 2019;35:32–40.
7.
NCD Risk Factor Collaboration. Trends in adult body-mass index in 200 countries from 1975 to 2014: a pooled analysis of 1698 population-based measurement studies with 19·2 million participants. Lancet. 2016;387:1377–96.
8.
Flegal KM, Kruszon-Moran D, Carroll MD, Fryar CD, Ogden CL. Trends in obesity among adults in the United States, 2005 to 2014. JAMA. 2016;315:2284–91.PubMed
9.
Rooney BL, Schauberger CW. Excess pregnancy weight gain and long-term obesity: one decade later. Obstet Gynecol. 2002;100:245–52.PubMed
10.
Mannan M, Doi SA, Mamun AA. Association between weight gain during pregnancy and postpartum weight retention and obesity: a bias-adjusted meta-analysis. Nutr Rev. 2013;71:343–52.PubMed
11.
Stuebe AM, Rich-Edwards JW. The reset hypothesis: lactation and maternal metabolism. Am J Perinatol. 2009;26:81–8.PubMed
12.
Butte NF, King JC. Energy requirements during pregnancy and lactation. Public Health Nutr. 2005;8:1010–27.PubMed
13.
Neville CE, McKinley MC, Holmes VA, Spence D, Woodside JV. The relationship between breastfeeding and postpartum weight change - a systematic review and critical evaluation. Int J Obes (Lond). 2014;38:577–90.
14.
McClure CK, Catov J, Ness R, Schwarz EB. Maternal visceral adiposity by consistency of lactation. Matern Child Health J. 2012;16:316–21.PubMed
15.
Bobrow KL, Quigley MA, Green J, Reeves GK, Beral V. Persistent effects of women’s parity and breastfeeding patterns on their body mass index: results from the Million Women Study. Int J Obes (Lond). 2013;37:712–7.
16.
Snyder GG, Holzman C, Sun T, Bullen B, Bertolet M, Catov JM. Breastfeeding greater than 6 months is associated with smaller maternal waist circumference up to one decade after delivery. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2019;28:462–72.
17.
Oken E, Patel R, Guthrie LB, Vilchuck K, Bogdanovich N, Sergeichick N, et al. Effects of an intervention to promote breastfeeding on maternal adiposity and blood pressure at 11.5 y postpartum: results from the Promotion of Breastfeeding Intervention Trial, a cluster-randomized controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2013;98:1048–56.PubMedPubMedCentral
18.
Zoet GA, Paauw ND, Groenhof K, Franx A, Gansevoort RT, Groen H, et al. Association between parity and persistent weight gain at age 40–60 years: a longitudinal prospective cohort study. BMJ Open. 2019;9:e024279.PubMedPubMedCentral
19.
Rosenberg L, Palmer JR, Wise LA, Horton NJ, Kumanyika SK, Adams-Campbell LL. A prospective study of the effect of childbearing on weight gain in African-American women. Obes Res. 2003;1:1526–35.
20.
Ko SH, Kim HS. Menopause-associated lipid metabolic disorders and food beneficial for postmenopausal women. Nutrients. 2020;12(1):202.PubMedCentral
21.
Mauvais-Jarvis F, Clegg DJ, Hevener AL. The role of estrogens in control of energy balance and glucose homeostasis. Endocr Rev. 2013;34:309–38.PubMedPubMedCentral
22.
Kohrt WM, Wierman ME. Preventing fat gain by blocking follicle-stimulating hormone. N Engl J Med. 2017;377:293–5.PubMed
23.
Suliga E, Kozieł D, Cieśla E, Rębak D, Głuszek S. Factors associated with adiposity, lipid profile disorders and the metabolic syndrome occurrence in premenopausal and postmenopausal women. PLoS ONE. 2016;11:e0154511.PubMedPubMedCentral
24.
Lovejoy JC, Champagne CM, de Jonge L, Xie H, Smith SR. Increased visceral fat and decreased energy expenditure during the menopausal transition. Int J Obes. 2008;32:949–58.
25.
Zatonski WA, Manczuk M. Kielce PONS Team: POlish-Norwegian Study (PONS): Research on chronic non-communicable diseases in European high risk countries—study design. Ann Agric Environ Med. 2011;18:203–6.PubMed
26.
Suliga E, Koziel D, Ciesla E, Gluszek S. Association between dietary patterns and metabolic syndrome in individuals with normal weight: a crosssectional study. Nutr J. 2015;14:55.PubMedPubMedCentral
27.
Suliga E, Kozieł D, Cieśla E, Rębak D, Głuszek S. Sleep duration and the risk of obesity—a cross-sectional study. Med Stud/Studia Medyczne. 2017;33:176–83.
28.
29.
Dehghan M, Ilow R, Zatonska K, Szuba A, Zhang X, Mente A, Regulska-Ilow B. Development, reproducibility and validity of the food frequency questionnaire in the Poland arm of the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study. J Hum Nutr Diet. 2012;25:225–32.PubMed
30.
AACE/ACE Obesity Task Force. AACE/ACE position statement on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of obesity. Endocr Pract. 1998;4:297–350.
31.
Browning LM, Hsieh SD, Ashwell M. A systematic review of waist-to-height ratio as a screening tool for the prediction of cardiovascular disease and diabetes: 0.5 could be a suitable global boundary value. Nutr Res Rev. 2010;23:247–69.PubMed
32.
Shifren JL, Gass ML, Group NRfCCoMWW. The North American Menopause Society recommendations for clinical care of midlife women. Menopause. 2014;21: 1038–62.
33.
Suliga E, Cieśla E, Rębak D, Kozieł D, Głuszek S. Relationship between sitting time, physical activity, and metabolic syndrome among adults depending on body mass index (BMI). Med Sci Monit. 2018;24:7633–45.PubMedPubMedCentral
34.
Suliga E, Kozieł D, Cieśla E, Rębak D, Głuszek S. Dietary patterns in relation to metabolic syndrome among adults in Poland: a cross-sectional study. Nutrients. 2017;9:1366.PubMedCentral
35.
Wiklund P, Xu L, Lyytikäinen A, Saltevo J, Wang Q, Völgyi E, et al. Prolonged breastfeeding protects mothers from later-life obesity and related cardio-metabolic disorders. Public Health Nutr. 2012;15:67–74.PubMed
36.
Armenta RF, Kritz-Silverstein D, Wingard D, Laughlin GA, Wooten W, Barrett-Connor E, et al. Association of breastfeeding with maternal visceral adiposity postmenopause among three racial/ ethnic groups. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2015;23:475–80.
37.
Kirkegaard H, Stovring H, Rasmussen KM, Abrams B, Sørensen TIA, Nohr EA. How do pregnancy-related weight changes and breastfeeding relate to maternal weight and BMI-adjusted waist circumference 7 y after delivery? Results from a path analysis. Am J Clin Nutr. 2014;99:312–9.PubMed
38.
Natland ST, Nilsen TI, Midthjell K, Andersen LF, Forsmo S. Lactation and cardiovascular risk factors in mothers in a population-based study: the HUNT-study. Int Breastfeed J. 2012;7:8.PubMedPubMedCentral
39.
Schwarz EB, Ray RM, Stuebe AM, Allison MA, Ness RB, Freiberg MS, et al. Duration of lactation and risk factors for maternal cardiovascular disease. Obstet Gynecol. 2009;113:974–82.PubMedPubMedCentral
40.
Sharma AJ, Dee DL, Harden SM. Adherence to breast-feeding guidelines and maternal weight 6 years after de-livery. Pediatrics. 2014;134(Suppl 1):S42–9.PubMed
41.
Bjørndal B, Burri L, Staalesen V, Skorve J, Berge RK. Different adipose depots: their role in the development of metabolic syndrome and mitochondrial response to hypolipidemic agents. J Obes. 2011;2011:490650.PubMedPubMedCentral
42.
Letexier D, Pinteur C, Large V, Fréring V, Beylot M. Comparison of the expression and activity of the lipogenic pathway in human and rat adipose tissue. J Lipid Res. 2003;44:2127–34.PubMed
43.
Tchernof A, Bélanger C, Morisset AS, Richard C, Mailloux J, Laberge P, et al. Regional differences in adipose tissue metabolism in women. minor effect of obesity and body fat distribution. Diabetes. 2006;55:1353–60.PubMed
44.
Ronquillo MD, Mellnyk A, Cárdenas-Rodríguez N, Martínez E, Comoto DA, Carmona-Aparicio L, Herrera NE, Lara E, Pereyra A, Floriano-Sánchez E. Different gene expression profiles in subcutaneous & visceral adipose tissues from Mexican patients with obesity. Indian J Med Res. 2019;149:616–26.PubMedPubMedCentral
45.
Małodobra-Mazur M, Cierzniak A, Pawełka D, Kaliszewski K, Rudnicki J, Dobosz T. Metabolic differences between subcutaneous and visceral adipocytes differentiated with an excess of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids. Genes (Basel). 2020;11:1092.
46.
Moore BJ, Olsen JL, Marks F, Brasel JA. The effects of high fat feeding during one cycle of reproduction consisting of pregnancy, lactation and recovery on body composition and fat pad cellularity in the rat. J Nutr. 1984;114:1566–73.PubMed
47.
McClure CK, Schwarz EB, Conroy MB, Tepper PG, Janssen I, Sutton-Tyrrell KC. Breastfeeding and subsequent maternal visceral adiposity. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2011;19:2205–13.
48.
49.
Jarlenski MP, Bennett WL, Bleich SN, Barry CL, Stuart EA. Effects of breastfeeding on postpartum weight loss among US women. Prev Med. 2014;69:146–50.PubMedPubMedCentral
Metadata
Title
Breastfeeding history and the risk of overweight and obesity in middle-aged women
Authors
Elżbieta Cieśla
Ewa Stochmal
Stanisław Głuszek
Edyta Suliga
Publication date
01-12-2021
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Women's Health / Issue 1/2021
Electronic ISSN: 1472-6874
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-021-01332-2

Other articles of this Issue 1/2021

BMC Women's Health 1/2021 Go to the issue

Research

The role of health beliefs and health literacy in women's health promoting behaviours based on the health belief model: a descriptive study

Research article

Barriers to seeking post-abortion care in Paktika Province, Afghanistan: a qualitative study of clients and community members

Research article

Understanding family planning decision-making: perspectives of providers and community stakeholders from Istanbul, Turkey

Research

Family planning providers and contraceptive users in Rwanda employ strategies to prevent discontinuation

Research article

Influential factors on quality of life in married Iranian women during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020: a path analysis

Research article

Clinical application of the 2011 IFCPC colposcope terminology