Breastfeeding makes babies less reactive to stress: Study
While
it's a known fact that there are many physical and mental health
benefits of breastfeeding for mothers and babies, according to the latest
research, this might be due to genetic changes induced by breastfeeding.
Dr
Lester, one of the lead researchers said, "What we found is that maternal
care changes the activity of a gene in their infants that regulates the
infant's physiological response to stress, specifically the release of the
hormone cortisol."
"Breastfeeding
was associated with decreased DNA methylation and decreased cortisol reactivity
in the infants. In other words, there was an epigenetic change in the babies
who were breastfed, resulting in reduced stress than those who were not
breastfed," said Dr Lester. Read
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