Cholesterol
INFANT HEALTH RESEARCH
Research on the links between breastfeeding and cholesterol (and related disorders)
Breastfeeding in infancy and lipid profile in adolescence
This study explored whether there was an association between breastfeeding in the first three months of life with lipid profile and adiposity at around 17.5 years. The researchers included 3,261 participants in the Hong Kong Chinese birth cohort Children of 1997, adjusting for sex, birth weight, gestational weeks, parity, pregnancy characteristics, parents’ highest education, mother’s place of birth, and age at follow-up. They found that exclusive breastfeeding, but not mixed feeding at 0 to 3 months, compared with formula feeding was associated with lower total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol but not with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol at ∼17.5 years. BMI and fat percentage measured by bioimpedance did not differ by type of infant feeding.