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

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.

Keywords: BMI; breastfeeding; longitudinal; obesity; trajectory.