“The longer a mother nurses her baby, the better for both of them. Our study provides another good reason for workplace policies to encourage women to breastfeed their infants,” said study lead author Eleanor Bimla Schwartz, MD of the University of Pittsburgh.

 

The study involved 139,681 postmenopausal women and found that those who breastfed for at least one month had lower blood pressure, better cholesterol and less frequent diabetes, all known factors for cardiovascular risk.

 

Moreover, women who breastfed their babies for more than a full year had their cardiovascular risk reduced by 10 percent. More exactly, breastfeeding for more than a year cut the risk of high blood pressure by 12 percent, and diabetes and high cholesterol by around 20 percent.

 

“Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women, so it's vitally important for us to know what we can do to protect ourselves. We have known for years that breastfeeding is important for babies' health; we now know that it is important for mothers' health as well,” Schwarz said.

 

However, she said the further research is needed to understand why breastfeeding has these health benefits on women.