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Do Real Nipples Make You Smarter?
By Jack Sterling | November 6, 2007
For tens of thousands of years women have breastfed their babies or, when unable, employed the use of a wet-nurse. Later in human development, civilized man has reportedly attempted various substitutions. But, only in recent history has any of these concoctions been considered to meet the nutritional requirements of a developing newborn. Yet even today, the FDA recommends using formula over human milk under only a handful of circumstances.
What’s more, mother’s milk goes beyond being the best form of infant nutrition — it also imparts immunities and other benefits related to infant health. A recent report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality details these benefits. Ongoing is the debate, however, about any correlation between intelligence and breastfeeding. The AHRQ report asserts that, while as a source of nutrition, breast milk is unparalleled — no relationship between breastfeeding and cognitive performance is evident. Furthermore, the British Medical Journal reports on a recent study that shows a much stronger correlation of infant cognitive ability to a mother’s IQ than whether she breastfed her child or not; essentially asserting that all we really know is that smart mothers tend to have smart babies.
But wait! An even newer study now shows a correlation to higher IQ’s in breastfed children, yet only when they carry a certain gene. This study as published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports a 6 or 7 percent increase in the IQ’s of children who carry a certain variant of the FADS2 gene found in 90% of the population. Professor Terrie Moffitt and colleagues at the Institute of Psychiatry, London conducted the research. Professor Moffitt has reportedly declared that while this is a very exciting discovery, “…this study must be repeated by other research teams in other countries.”
So perhaps another study will follow that invalidates this new one. Or maybe it will be further proven. In any case, given all the other undisputed benefits, naturally breatfeeding your baby seems most judicious.
Topics: Health |
August 16th, 2008 at 7:51 am
Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!