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Cited by 44Breastfeeding Practices and InfluencesInfant Nutrition and HealthObesity, Physical Activity, Diet

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Breastfeeding and the Longitudinal Changes of Body Mass Index in Childhood and Adulthood: A Systematic Review

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Zheng, Miaobing, D’Souza, Ninoshka J., Atkins, Linda, Ghobadi, Saeed, Laws, Rachel, Szymlek-Gay, Ewa A., Grimes, Carley, Baker, Philip, He, Qi-Qiang, Campbell, Karen J.·2024·Advances in Nutrition
DOI 10.1016/j.advnut.2023.100152PMC PMC10714232
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Abstract

Mounting evidence supports the beneficial role of breastfeeding in lowering obesity risk, but the enduring impact of breastfeeding on longitudinal changes in body mass index (BMI) (i.e., BMI trajectories) remains unclear. This systematic review summarized evidence on how breastfeeding influenced the longitudinal trajectories of BMI later in life. Literature searches were conducted in Medline, Embase, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect to identify studies that assessed how breastfeeding (versus other feeding types or duration) was associated with longitudinal trajectories of BMI or BMI z-score. Three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and 24 longitudinal cohort studies were included. Two-thirds (18/27) of studies were rated as acceptable or high quality. Most cohort studies (9/11) showed that children who continued to breastfeed at 3 to 12 mo of age had a lower BMI trajectory or lower odds of following a high BMI trajectory than those who were formula-fed or mixed-fed. The BMI differences between breastfeeding and other feeding groups were evident from age 7 mo and remained up to 8 y, and the magnitude of between-group BMI differences increased with age. For breastfeeding duration, 12 out of 15 cohort studies found that longer breastfeeding duration was associated with lower BMI trajectories up to age 18 y. Moreover, beneficial associations were observed for both exclusive and any breastfeeding with BMI trajectory. In contrast, mixed findings were reported from 3 RCTs that compared BMI trajectories from birth to ages 12 to 24 mo between breastfeeding promotion versus control or breastfeeding versus formula-feeding groups. The current review provides further longitudinal evidence from cohort studies that breastfeeding versus formula/mixed feeding or longer breastfeeding duration was associated with lower BMI trajectories. Such associations initiated in early childhood became more apparent with age and were sustained into early adulthood. The existing evidence substantiates the importance of breastfeeding promotion and continuation to support obesity prevention.

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  • Breastfeeding, which improves child survival and development, has also been associated with a lower risk of obesity in observational studies but the findings from randomised trials are mixed, possibly because of reverse causality.

    “Breastfeeding, which improves child survival and development, has also been associated with a lower risk of obesity in observational studies but the findings from randomised trials are mixed, possibly because of reverse causality.47,48”

    From Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults (2024) · cites this paper as [48]

    The Abstract and Discussion (pages unavailable in our copy) report lower BMI trajectories in cohort studies and mixed findings from three randomized trials. The Introduction mentions optimal infant growth, but the paper does not establish the broader child-survival and development claim. The Discussion raises confounding and uncertainty about causality; it does not attribute the mixed trial findings to reverse causality. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Metadata

Authors
Zheng, M., D’Souza, N. J., Atkins, L., Ghobadi, S., Laws, R., Szymlek-Gay, E. A., Grimes, C., Baker, P., He, Q.-Q., & Campbell, K. J.
Affiliations
  • Deakin University (AU)
  • Wuhan University (CN)
Corresponding author
Zheng, Miaobing
ORCID
Venue
Advances in Nutrition
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2024-01
Volume
15
Issue
1
Pages
100152
ISSN
  • 2156-5376 (ISSN-L)
  • 2161-8313
DOI
10.1016/j.advnut.2023.100152
PMC
PMC10714232
OpenAlex
W4388723761
Cited by
44
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 13 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 11
FWCI
1.72
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Advances in Nutrition (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • Australian Research Council
  • National Health and Medical Research Council
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Breastfeeding Practices and Influences
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Infant Nutrition and Health
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
Keywords
breastfeeding, body mass index trajectories, childhood obesity, obesity prevention, breastfeeding duration, exclusive breastfeeding, bottle feeding, mixed feeding, BMI z-score, early childhood, early adulthood
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Breast Feeding, Child, Child, Preschool, Female, Humans, Infant, Longitudinal Studies, Obesity, Cohort Studies, Weight Loss, Body Mass Index

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