The study, which was carried out over a 30 year period, tracked the development of 3,500 babies and discovered that breastfeeding can increase a child's intelligence and plays a role in educational and academic achievement as well as success in the workplace.
The research, which was published today in the April edition of Lancet Global Health, asserts that nursing has an effect on brain development, with researcher Dr. Bernardo Lessa Horta saying: "Our study provides the first evidence that prolonged breastfeeding not only increases intelligence until at least the age of 30 years, but also has an impact both at an individual and societal level by improving educational attainment and earning ability."
Commenting on the study, Dr. Horto asserts that socioeconomic role was not a factor, revealing: "What is unique about this study is the fact that, in the population we studied, breastfeeding was not more common among highly educated, high-income women, but was evenly distributed by social class."
Attempting to explain the findings, Dr. Horto suggests that long-chain saturated fatty acids may play a role as it is has been established that they are essential for brain development, but experts in the field have suggested that further research must be done before links can be made between breastfeeding and intelligence levels.
