Breastfeeding provides a number of health benefits for mothers and children alike. Not only does it help prevent the death of 800,000 children every year, it also lowers the number of deaths related to breast cancer by as much as 20,000.

Despite these potential advantages, only a small number of women in the world choose to breastfeed their children.

In a two-part report featured in the journal The Lancet, researchers from the World Health Organization and UNICEF have discovered that only one in every five children born in high-income countries receives breastfeeding from their mothers for first 12 months. Additionally, only one in every three children in middle- to low-income countries receives breastfeeding for the first six months.

Cesar Victora, an epidemiologist from the Federal University of Pelotas in Brazil and one of the authors of the study, said that this low breastfeeding rate can be attributed to a popular misconception that the practice only benefits people in poor countries.

He said that their report is meant to highlight the potential of breastfeeding to help save lives and money not only in poor countries but in rich nations as well.

Benefits Of Breastfeeding

One of the main points stated in the report is the ability of breastfeeding to lower the occurrence of sudden infant death in rich countries by as much as one-third.

The practice can also help cut the occurrence of diarrhea by half and respiratory infections by one-third in children living in middle- to low-income nations.

Victora and his colleagues discovered that breastfeeding can help lower the risk of children developing diabetes and obesity later in life. It can also boost their intelligence as they become older.

Mothers who choose to breast-feed their children also experience a considerable reduction in ovarian and breast cancer risk.

Aside from the health benefits of breastfeeding, the report also highlighted its impact on the economy.

The researchers estimated that non-breast-fed children who suffered from poor thinking skills cost the world about $302 billion in 2012. Rich countries alone lost as much as $231 billion during this period.

If breastfeeding rates for babies younger than six months old in China, Brazil and the U.S. can be increased to 90 percent, and in the United Kingdom to 45 percent, Victora and his colleagues believe that it would help lower the cost of treatment for common illnesses such as asthma, pneumonia and diarrhea.

Photo: Aurimas Mikalauskas | Flickr