PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A new study by
researchers from Brown University finds more evidence that breastfeeding is
good for babies’ brains.
The study made use of specialized, baby-friendly magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) to look at the brain growth in a sample of children
under the age of 4. The research found that by age 2, babies who had been
breastfed exclusively for at least three months had enhanced development in key
parts of the brain compared to children who were fed formula exclusively or who
were fed a combination of formula and breast milk. The extra growth was most
pronounced in parts of the brain associated with language, emotional function,
and cognition, the research showed.
This isn’t the first study to suggest that breastfeeding
aids babies’ brain development. Behavioral studies have previously associated
breastfeeding with better cognitive outcomes in older adolescents and adults.
But this is the first imaging study that looked for differences associated with
breastfeeding in the brains of very young and healthy children, said Sean
Deoni, assistant professor of engineering at Brown and the study’s lead author.
“We wanted to see how early these changes in brain
development actually occur,” Deoni said. “We show that they’re there almost
right off the bat.” The findings are in press in the journal NeuroImage and available
now online.
The study showed that the exclusively breastfed group had
the fastest growth in myelinated white matter of the three groups, with the
increase in white matter volume becoming substantial by age 2. The group fed
both breastmilk and formula had more growth than the exclusively formula-fed
group, but less than the breastmilk-only group.
“We’re finding the difference [in white matter growth] is on
the order of 20 to 30 percent, comparing the breastfed and the non-breastfed
kids,” said Deoni. “I think it’s astounding that you could have that much
difference so early.”
Deoni and his team then backed up their imaging data with a
set of basic cognitive tests on the older children. Those tests found increased
language performance, visual reception, and motor control performance in the
breastfed group.
The study also looked at the effects of the duration of
breastfeeding. The researchers compared babies who were breastfed for more than
a year with those breastfed less than a year, and found significantly enhanced
brain growth in the babies who were breastfed longer — especially in areas of
the brain dealing with motor function.
Deoni says the findings add to a substantial body of research
that finds positive associations between breastfeeding and children’s brain
health.
“I think I would argue that combined with all the other
evidence, it seems like breastfeeding is absolutely beneficial,” he said.
Other authors on the study were Douglas Dean, Irene
Piryatinsky, Jonathan O’Muircheartaigh, Lindsay Walker, Nicole Waskiewicz,
Katie Lehman, Michelle Han and Holly Dirks, who all work with Deoni in the Baby
Imaging Lab. The work was funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health.