Breast-Feeding Delays Maternal Vascular Aging

Multiple studies have indicated that, as they age, mothers who didn't breast-feed are more likely to develop heart disease than mothers who did breast-feed. To assess the relation between lactation duration and subclinical vascular disease, researchers followed 846 women, recording lactation duration for all incident pregnancies and measuring common carotid intima media thickness (CCIMT) at year 20 (ages 38–50).

As in prior studies, lactation duration was favorably associated with maternal body-mass index (BMI), lipids, blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes mellitus at year 20. In addition, lactation duration was significantly and inversely associated with CCIMT, even after adjusting for prepregnancy BMI, parity, smoking, and sociodemographic …