Breastfeeding more babies for longer could save the global economy some $300 billion in a single year, simply by yielding smarter and higher-earning offspring, researchers said. It would also prevent more than 800,000 child deaths, and about 20,000 breast cancer deaths every year. "Breastfeeding saves lives and money in all countries, rich and poor alike," said Cesar Victora from the Federal University of Pelotas in Brazil, one of the authors of a research series published by The Lancet medical journal. The findings were based on analysis of 28 scientific reviews and meta-analyses that looked at the proven health and economic benefits of breastfeeding.
In high-income countries, it reduced the risk of sudden infant deaths by more than a third. In low-and middle-income countries, it could prevent about half of diarrhoea episodes and a third of respiratory infections. Altogether, about 800,000 children's lives could be saved every year -- the equivalent of about 13 percent of all deaths in children under two. "It also increases intelligence," said the statement.
For women, longer breastfeeding has been shown to reduce the risk of breast and ovarian cancer, the study authors said, and estimated that some 20,000 women's deaths could be prevented per year. Yet, one in five children in high-income countries are breastfed to 12 months, and one in three in low- and middle-income countries are exclusively breastfed for the first six months of their lives. In Britain, about one percent of children are breastfed until the age of one, in Ireland about two percent and in Denmark three percent -- among the lowest rates in the world.
Breastfeeding is much more common in poor countries. Breast milk is free, nutritious and protective against disease, but not always practical for women who cannot be on call around the clock. In some societies, it is frowned upon to breastfeed in public. And in some cases, it can be dangerous -- breastfeeding can pass on the HIV virus that causes AIDS from infected mothers to their children. The researchers called for political commitment and financial investment to make it easier for women to breastfeed, and tighter regulation of the breast milk substitute industry.
