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It is a proven fact that breast milk is the best food for a baby. Breastfeeding not only helps your child thrive but also helps keep many diseases at bay and your baby can enjoy the benefits well into adulthood. It is nutritious and boosts your child's immunity. But apparently, you may make your breast milk more nutritious. According to a new study at Kristin Stanford from Ohio State University in the US, even moderate exercise during pregnancy increases a compound in breast milk that reduces a baby's lifelong risks of serious health issues such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease. Though we all know that maternal exercise improves the health of a baby, researchers of this study wanted to answer the question of why. The journal Nature Metabolism published this study.
According to them, because there is evidence that breast milk plays a major role, they wanted to isolate the effects of breast milk on offspring health. For the purpose of this study, they studied mice born from sedentary mothers and fed them milk from mothers who were active throughout pregnancy. They saw that the health benefits from fit moms transferred to the pups, proving that they were, in fact, passed through breast milk and not simply inherited genetic traits. Researchers also followed about 150 pregnant and postpartum women using activity trackers and found that those who had more steps per day had an increased amount of a compound known as 3SL in their breast milk, which they believe is responsible for these health benefits.
Researchers say that the increase in 3SL are not necessarily related to exercise intensity. So, you can get the benefits even if you undertake moderate exercise like a walk every day. Exercise will also boost your overall health during and after pregnancy. So, anything you can do to get moving is going to benefit both you and your baby, said researchers.
Many women are unable to breastfeed or experience pregnancy complications that require bed rest. Therefore, researchers are trying to figure out if they can isolate this beneficial compound found in the breast milk of active moms and add it to infant formula. They say that this human milk oligosaccharide has a significant impact on offspring healthy. Being able to add this into formula could provide benefits for babies when women aren't able to breastfeed.
Breastfeeding has many benefits. According to experts, it can significantly bring down rates of sudden infant death syndrome in the first year of life and also lower post-neonatal infant mortality rates. It boosts your baby's immunity and brings down the risk of diseases like eczema, asthma and many food allergies later in life. You will also notice a lower risk of infectious diseases and better growth development. Moreover, you child will also enjoy some immunity against chronic conditions like type 1 and type 2 diabetes, lymphoma, leukemia and Hodgkin disease.
(With inputs from IANS)