Breast milk increases brain size

British scientists found that the longer the breast-feeding period became, the greater the young brain.

Many scientists study the effect of breast milk on human development, but this is the first time there has been a study of the effect of milk on brain development. Professor Robert Burton of Durham University in the UK, and colleagues, looked at 128 species of mammals - including humans - to see if breastfeeding is related to brain size, Telegraph reported.

They found that the time humans and animals were breastfed really affected the development of the brain. Specifically, the longer the breast-feeding period, the greater the brain volume.

Pregnancy photo

For example, a deer - an animal with a body weight equivalent to that of a human being - is only pregnant for 7 months and the maximum time of breastfeeding is only 6 months. Their brain volume is 6 times smaller than that of humans.

'Overall our research supports the hypothesis that breastmilk is the best food and that the World Health Organization advises mothers to breastfeed for at least 18 months is correct, ' Barton said.

Barton said he and his colleagues did not know anything in breast milk helped the brain become bigger.

WebMD once published a University of Southampton study in the UK, whereby the brain volume of a one-year-old child is greater, their intelligence and learning ability are higher in the later stages of life.

Three years before a survey for 14,000 children showed that those who received breastmilk achieved much higher results than those who were not breastfed when taking an intellectual test.

Another study, published in early March, demonstrated that babies who were breastfed had better reading, writing and math skills at ages 5, 7, 11 and 14.

Scientists agree that breastmilk is capable of boosting children's immunity, helping them to counteract the infection, intestinal bacteria and even asthma. However, despite the great effort in the communication activities of many governments, millions of mothers still do not breastfeed. For example, 20% of mothers in the UK never breastfeed, 3% breastfeed for three months and only about a third do it a week after their baby is born.

Research by Professor Barton and colleagues is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.