Longer breastfeeding over the first year of life was linked to better understanding of language at 3 and better verbal and nonverbal intelligence at 7, researchers reported.

Also, any breastfeeding — as opposed to none — was associated with better verbal intelligence at 7, according to Mandy Belfort, MD, of Boston Children’s Hospital, and colleagues.

The findings, from a prospective cohort study, support a causal link between breastfeeding and later intelligence, Belfort and colleagues argued online in JAMA Pediatrics.

Taken with other research, Belfort and colleagues said, the study supports national and international recommendations in favor of exclusive breastfeeding through 6 months and at least some breastfeeding in the rest of the first year.

Indeed, the possible impact on cognition might be the factor that increases breastfeeding in the U.S., commented Dimitri Christakis, MD, of the Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute.

In an accompanying editorial, he noted that breastfeeding is known to reduce the incidence of such things as gastroenteritis, otitis media, and atopic eczema, but those outcomes, while desirable, do not have ‘dramatic public health consequences.’

Children’s cognitive function might be ‘the force that tilts the scale’ and prompts a range of changes in policy and public opinion on breastfeeding, Christakis argued.

He also noted that […]