Breast-Feeding Seems Beneficial for Maternal Heart Health

Because of the caloric demands of lactation (estimated to be 480 kcal/day), women who breast-feed tend to lose more weight postpartum than women who do not breast-feed. The long-term health effects of breast-feeding are less clear. Investigators used data from the Women’s Health Initiative to examine the effects of lactation on cardiovascular (CV) risk factors (obesity, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia) and incidence of CV disease in 139,681 women who reported their lifetime cumulative months of breast-feeding. Participants were stratified into cohorts based on duration (1–6 months, 7–12 months, 13–23 months, and ≥24 months).

Parous women who had never breast-fed were more likely to be obese and to have hypertension, diabetes, or hyper…