[Breastfeeding as a protective factor against overweight and obesity among pre-school children]

Abstract

Introduction: The rates of overweight and obesity among children have significantly increased in Chile.

Objective: To assess the benefits of breastfeeding in preventing malnutrition by excessive intake of foods in Chilean pre-school children.

Methods: A case-control study was conducted in 2011 on pediatric patients treated in a private Chilean healthcare center (San Joaquin Medical Center, Catholic University). Gender, age, weight, height, nutritional diagnosis, type of feeding during the first 6 months of life, socioeconomic status, parental education and obesity, television viewing, and kindergarten attendance were analyzed.

Results: A total of 209 patients were included in the study, 53.1% of whom were male, and 60.3% were predominantly breastfed for the first 6 months of life. More than half (51.7%) were eutrophic, 29.7% were overweight, and 18.6% obese. The patients were between the ages of 2 and 3 years 11 months. The crude Odds Ratio of breast-feeding versus formula during the first 6 months of life in patients with normal weight versus overweight children was 0.442 (95% CI 0.204-0.961).

Conclusions: It was found that predominantly breastfeeding during the first 6 months of life acted as a protective factor against malnutrition by excessive intake of foods in Chilean pre-school children treated in this private medical center.

Keywords: Breastfeeding; Malnutrition; Obesity; Overweight; Sobrepeso; lactancia materna; malnutrición; obesidad.