Breast-fed babies are less likely to become obese children, according to research by the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. Dr Rudiger von Kries and colleagues, writing in the British Medical Journal, report on a study of 9,357 children in Bavaria which found that infants breast-fed for three to five months were a third less likely to become obese by the time they reached school age.
The researchers believe breast milk offers a protective effect because of its composition and not because of lifestyle factors associated with breastfeeding.