標籤 ： 研究證明，喝母乳的小孩比較聰明，不過母乳的好處一定要經過相當時間才會顯現，哺乳時間太短則沒有幫助。
愛爾蘭都柏林大學以兩千年到2002年出生的一萬八千多個小孩為對象，發現以母乳哺育半年的小孩，到三歲大的時候，在文字、數字、顏色以及形狀的辨識上，表現優於喝牛奶的小孩。
這項研究的目的，是要探討母乳哺育時間持續多久對小孩的智力發育幫助最大，結果發現，母乳的好處會在持續哺育的四個月後開始顯現，到六個月的時候達到高峰。
喝母乳半年的小孩，與沒有喝母乳的小孩，在智力發育上所顯現的差異最為明顯，超過六個月之後，差異又趨於縮小。
因此研究建議，新生兒從只喝母乳轉換到增加副食的最佳時機是六個月大。
<<轉載自網路新聞 http://news.pchome.com.tw/internation/bcc/20080929/index-12226635645880321011.html>>
看了原文後，應該說是"認知能力"而非單純的"智力"而已。(因為原始研究是寫Cognitive Ability)
原文文章及出處~
http://ideas.repec.org/p/ucd/wpaper/200821.html
Breast is Best, But for How Long? Testing Breastfeeding Guidelines for Optimal Cognitive Ability
| Author Info |
Lori Timmins (Department of Economics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada)
Abstract
Objectives. To investigate the relationship between breastfeeding duration and cognitive development using longitudinal survey data. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommend exclusive breastfeeding until six months post-partum and a combination of complementary foods and breast milk thereafter. This study estimates non-parametric regression models to test whether these recommendations also hold for cognitive ability. Design. Longitudinal cohort study with two waves of 18,819 children who were born in the UK between 2000-2002. We estimate several generalised additive regression models to examine the impact of exclusive and non-exclusive breastfeeding duration on cognitive ability, while controlling for a range of confounding family characteristics. Setting and Participants: Participants of the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). Main outcome measures: Cognitive development at age three as measured by the Bracken School Readiness Assessment. Results. The models identify a non-linear relationship between exclusive and non-exclusive breastfeeding and cognitive ability. There are high initial positive returns to exclusive breastfeeding which peak at six months, with the returns to non-exclusive breastfeeding continuing to increase until 10/12 months. These results suggest that the WHO/AAP guidelines recommending exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life also hold for optimal cognitive ability. The models also show that the optimal switching point from exclusive to nonexclusive breastfeeding occurs at six months, and that a combination of breast milk and solids should continue until thereafter, peaking at 10 months. Conclusion. While breastfeeding recommendations primarily target physical growth and development, our study confirms that such recommendations are also optimal for cognitive development. These results provide further evidence that recent UK policy initiatives to extend paid maternity leave is appropriate for the maximal development of the child’s cognitive ability. While this study controls for a range of confounding factors, there may still exist unobserved family characteristics which mediate this relationship.
PubMed搜尋到近期相關文章及研究資料出處：
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008 May;65(5):578-84.
Breastfeeding and child cognitive development: new evidence from a large randomized trial.
CONTEXT: The evidence that breastfeeding improves cognitive development is based almost entirely on observational studies and is thus prone to confounding by subtle behavioral differences in the breastfeeding mother's behavior or her interaction with the infant. OBJECTIVE: To assess whether prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding improves children's cognitive ability at age 6.5 years. DESIGN: Cluster-randomized trial, with enrollment from June 17, 1996, to December 31, 1997, and follow-up from December 21, 2002, to April 27, 2005. SETTING: Thirty-one Belarussian maternity hospitals and their affiliated polyclinics. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 17,046 healthy breastfeeding infants were enrolled, of whom 13,889 (81.5%) were followed up at age 6.5 years. INTERVENTION: Breastfeeding promotion intervention modeled on the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Subtest and IQ scores on the Wechsler Abbreviated Scales of Intelligence, and teacher evaluations of academic performance in reading, writing, mathematics, and other subjects. RESULTS: The experimental intervention led to a large increase in exclusive breastfeeding at age 3 months (43.3% for the experimental group vs 6.4% for the control group; P < .001) and a significantly higher prevalence of any breastfeeding at all ages up to and including 12 months. The experimental group had higher means on all of the Wechsler Abbreviated Scales of Intelligence measures, with cluster-adjusted mean differences (95% confidence intervals) of +7.5 (+0.8 to +14.3) for verbal IQ, +2.9 (-3.3 to +9.1) for performance IQ, and +5.9 (-1.0 to +12.8) for full-scale IQ. Teachers' academic ratings were significantly higher in the experimental group for both reading and writing. CONCLUSION: These results, based on the largest randomized trial ever conducted in the area of human lactation, provide strong evidence that prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding improves children's cognitive development. TRIAL REGISTRATION: isrctn.org Identifier: ISRCTN37687716.
