British Study: Breastfed Babies 41% More Likely to Be Social, Educated Adults

Breastfed babies are likely to become better educated and more upwardly mobile adults than their bottle-fed peers, according to a new British study.

The study began in 1937 and tracked 1,414 British children into late adulthood.

It found those breastfed as infants were 41% more likely to move up the social ladder, according to Richard Martin, BM, BS, PhD, an epidemiologist at the University of Bristol, in England, and an author of the study.

However, Martin is quick to offer a caveat: "It's very possible that the effect is not due to breastfeeding per se, but something to do with the mothers' choice to breastfeed, or the environment in which the child grew up in, that may be more important."

Follow-up questionnaires about educational achievements and social mobility were sent out in 1997 and 1998, when study participants were in their 60s and 70s.

The surveys showed that breastfed infants were more likely to complete secondary school; with 27% of breastfed versus 20% of bottle-fed graduating.

Breastfed babies were also more likely to move up in social class, based on occupation. Fifty-eight percent of breastfed infants moved up, compared with 50% of bottle-fed ones.

Fifty percent of bottle-fed infants stayed in the same social class or went downward, while only 42% of the breast-fed infants stayed the same or moved down.

The longer a child was breastfed, the more likely he or she was to be upwardly mobile.

The study is published online ahead of print in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.