Effect of breast feeding on the plasma cholesterol and growth of infants |
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Authors: | P L Jooste L J Rossouw H J Steenkamp J E Rossouw A S Swanepoel D O Charlton |
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Affiliation: | Research Institutes for Nutritional Diseases and Biostatistics, Medical Research Council, Tygerberg, South Africa. |
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Abstract: | The effect of breast-feeding on plasma cholesterol, body weight, and body length was studied longitudinally in a large free-living cohort of infants (n = 512) from birth until the age of 1 year. Of the cohort, 21.4% were exclusively breast-fed for at least 3 months, 39.3% received bottle-feeding, and 39.3% received a combination of breast- and bottle-feeding. At birth the plasma cholesterol was similar in the three groups. After 3 months the mean plasma cholesterol and proportion of hypercholesterolemic infants in the breast-fed group were significantly (p less than 0.001) higher than that of the other two groups. These differences had disappeared at the age of 1 year. Breast-fed infants weighed less at 3 and 12 months, but body length was similar to those of the other groups. These results suggest that breast-feeding elevates plasma cholesterol by a direct mechanism and that the effect persists only as long as the breast-feeding is continued. |
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