The 1st-7th of August is World Breastfeeding Week, coordinated by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) to highlight the benefits of breastfeeding for mothers and infants.
As a born biologist, nutritional immunologist and mother of three, I think about the benefits of breastfeeding on a scale from the very close and personal, to the more global perspective. At the one end of this scale is the skin contact, peaceful intimacy and close mother-baby bonding that breastfeeding provides. We are (of course) mammals, partly defined by having the ability to carry out this amazing, life-sustaining activity as nature intended. At the other end of the scale are the significant public health and economic implications that breastfeeding holds for our ever-expanding global population.
I am always amazed and impressed by the many different components of breastmilk. The evolutionary pressure to make breastmilk the best source of nutrients it can be has been immense; the survival of all infants has relied upon this. Human breastmilk is an extremely complex nutritional medium, with hundreds of specialised proteins and other molecules – the result of millions of years of evolution. It contains nutrients that not only optimally support infant growth and development, but also help to establish and feed a healthy population of ‘friendly’ gut bacteria, which outcompetes the ‘bad’ bacteria, preventing them from causing infections. This ‘friendly’ gut microbiome also promotes the maturation and ‘education’ of the developing infant immune system, which is critical when you consider that neonatal and infant infections are a major cause of illness and death in all nations.
How could we better support breastfeeding? A mixture of strategies is needed to do this. Some are needed in all societies, and others may be tailored to the local population, settings, customs and practices.
Breastfeeding has been shown to reduce the risk of infectious and numerous other diseases; breastfed babies have a reduced risk of having gastrointestinal infections and diarrhoea, respiratory infections, middle ear infections, and type 1 diabetes. In the longer-term, breastfeeding reduces the risk of having inflammatory bowel disease, type 2 diabetes, childhood obesity, cardiovascular disease and is associated with lower blood pressure. In a recent UK research paper, the reduction in these risks in infants was estimated to save the NHS £11 million per year, with a further saving of £31 million due to the reduced risk of breast cancer. The medical journal the Lancet published an outstanding series of papers on the health benefits of breastfeeding in 2016, which unequivocally make the case for breastfeeding.
Here in the UK we have policies, guidelines and laws that are designed to promote and support mothers to breastfeed. How successful these are is a moot point; our breastfeeding rate statistics are not the worst, but certainly not the best amongst more affluent or ‘developed’ nations. How could we better support breastfeeding? A mixture of strategies is needed to do this. Some are needed in all societies, and others may be tailored to the local population, settings, customs and practices.
The take-home message for all is that the promotion of breastfeeding and its benefits is key. The global promotion of breastfeeding in August by WABA is one such initiative that will help to draw attention to this. Working with the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children’s Fund the alliance is a global network that aims to protect, promote and support breastfeeding around the world. Breastfeeding is a free and available strategy offering health benefits to all across the globe. Certainly worth promoting in my view.
The Institute of Developmental Sciences 