What Doctors Don't Tell YouBreastfeeding could provide protection against non insulin dependent diabetes (NIDDM), researchers believe. Babies who are breastfed exclusively for the first two months of life have a far lower rate of NIDDM than those also given cow’s milk formula.
Other research had found that insulindependent diabetes was linked to an early exposure to cow’s milk, but the role of breastfeeding as a protective agent against NIDDM had never been explored.
Researchers from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in Phoenix, Arizona studied 720 Pima Indians, a group with a high prevalence of NIDDM, and found that the group that was exclusively breastfed had significantly lower rates of NIDDM (Lancet, 1997; 350: 166-8),
Maryon Stewart
Tom Ferguson MD
Daniel Redwood DC