The Associations of Breastfeeding Status at 6 Months with Anthropometry, Body Composition, and Cardiometabolic Markers at 5 Years in the Ethiopian Infant Anthropometry and Body Composition Birth Cohort

• Published in: Nutrients 2023-10, Vol.15 (21), p.4595
• Main Authors: Heltbech, Mathilde S, Jensen, Cecilie L, Girma, Tsinuel, Abera, Mubarek, Admassu, Bitiya, Kæstel, Pernille, Wells, Jonathan C. K, Michaelsen, Kim F, Friis, Henrik, Andersen, Gregers S, Wibæk, Rasmus
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: anthropometry; Babies; Birth weight; Blood cholesterol; Body composition; Body mass index; Breast feeding; breastfeeding; Breastfeeding & lactation; cardiometabolic markers; child; Children & youth; Cholesterol; Data collection; Ethics; Ethnicity; Gestational age; Glucose; infant; Insulin; Low density lipoproteins; Malnutrition; Mothers; Newborn babies; Obesity; Overweight; Peptides; Physiological aspects; Pregnancy; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Socioeconomic factors; Triglycerides; Type 2 diabetes
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu15214595

(1) Background: Breastfeeding (BF) has been shown to lower the risk of overweight and cardiometabolic disease later in life. However, evidence from low-income settings remains sparse. We examined the associations of BF status at 6 months with anthropometry, body composition (BC), and cardiometabolic markers at 5 years in Ethiopian children. (2) Methods: Mother–child pairs from the iABC birth cohort were categorised into four BF groups at 6 months: 1. “Exclusive”, 2. “Almost exclusive”, 3. “Predominantly” and 4. “Partial or none”. The associations of BF status with anthropometry, BC, and cardiometabolic markers at 5 years were examined using multiple linear regression analyses in three adjustment models. (3) Results: A total of 306 mother–child pairs were included. Compared with “Exclusive”, the nonexclusive BF practices were associated with a lower BMI, blood pressure, and HDL-cholesterol at 5 years. Compared with “Exclusive”, “Predominantly” and “Almost exclusive” had shorter stature of −1.7 cm (−3.3, −0.2) and −1.2 cm (−2.9, 0.5) and a lower fat-free mass index of −0.36 kg/m2 (−0.71, −0.005) and −0.38 kg/m2 (−0.76, 0.007), respectively, but a similar fat mass index. Compared with “Exclusive”, “Predominantly” had higher insulin of 53% (2.01, 130.49), “Almost exclusive” had lower total and LDL-cholesterol, and “Partial or none” had a lower fat mass index. (5) Conclusions: Our data suggest that children exclusively breastfed at 6 months of age are overall larger at 5 years, with greater stature, higher fat-free mass but similar fat mass, higher HDL-cholesterol and blood pressure, and lower insulin concentrations compared with predominantly breastfed children. Long-term studies of the associations between BF and metabolic health are needed to inform policies.