New moms know that breastfeeding can be good for babies, providing them with much-needed nutrition as well as a shot of antibodies and other cells that help build immune systems. Now, evidence suggests that the practice may keep the mothers themselves healthier too.
Researchers led by Dr. Eleanor Bimla Schwarz at University of Pittsburgh found that women who breastfeed are half as likely to develop type 2 diabetes as women who do not. That’s a big statistical difference, and although it’s not clear what is behind the gap, scientists speculate that it has something to do with pregnancy pounds that expectant moms gain. Breastfeeding helps moms lose the abdominal fat they gain during pregnancy more efficiently.
And while abdominal — or visceral — fat is important for the gestating baby’s development, it can be detrimental to a mother’s health if it continues to build after delivery, since it’s been linked to greater risk of metabolic disorders such as insulin resistance and heart disease as well as diabetes.
“When you look at mammals, you have to consider lactation as part of the pregnancy experience,” says Schwarz. “When women don’t breastfeed after pregnancy, or lactation is curtailed or prematurely discontinued, women end up retaining more fat than they would have if they breastfed. Then the mother’s health can suffer.”
Time