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 Complete Article Business Standard