Children who are breastfed have less risk of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder than bottle-fed infants, researchers suggest.
The study, published in Breastfeeding Medicine, found a clear link between rates of breastfeeding and the likelihood of developing ADHD, even when typical risk factors were taken into consideration.
Children who were bottle-fed at three months were found to be three times more likely to have ADHD than those who were breastfed during the same period, the study said.
Dr Aviva Mimouni-Bloch of Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and Loewenstein Hospital completed a retrospective study on the breastfeeding habits of parents of three groups of children: a group that had been diagnosed with ADHD; siblings of those diagnosed with ADHD; and a control group of children without ADHD and lacking any genetic ties.
At three months, only 43 per cent of children in the ADHD group were breastfed compared with 69 per cent of the sibling group and 73 per cent of the control group. At 6 months, 29 per cent of the ADHD group was breastfed, compared with 50 per cent of the sibling group and 57 per cent of the control group.
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