研究今天指出，相較於喝配 方奶的寶寶，母乳寶寶爬到社會階級上層的機會多了 24%。 相對地，母乳寶寶在成長後，從社會階級滑落的機 率減少多達20%。研究發表在「兒童疾病檔案」（ Archives of Disease in Childhood）期刊。 這支英國研究團隊寫道：「這項研究為母乳的健康 好處再添證據，顯示喝母乳可能會帶來終生的社會效益 。」 研究對象為1958年在英國出生的1萬7419名民眾， 以及1970年出生的1萬6771名民眾，研究人員比較他們 在10歲/11歲時，以及33歲/34歲時的社會階級，以及他 們是否喝母乳。 研究人員宣稱，這是迄今調查餵母乳與社會階層流 動間關連的最大型研究。 社會階級的分類依據為非技術、半技術、專業或管 理階層來分類。 研究人員聲明說：「智力和壓力表現占母乳總影響 約1/3（36%）：母乳能提升腦部發育，也就是提升智力 ，而母乳兒童也展現較少壓力的徵象。」 研究作者說，母乳成分中含有長鏈不飽和脂肪酸（ LCPUFA），對腦部發育有關鍵影響。
（譯者：中央社陳 怡君）
Breastfeeding not only boosts children’s chances of climbing the social ladder, but it also reduces the chances of downwards mobility, suggests study based on 1958 and 1970 cohort data.
The findings are based on changes in the social class of 17,419 members of the 1958 National Child Development Study and 16,771 members of the 1970 British Cohort Study.
Researchers at the International Centre for Lifecourse Studies, University College London, compared whether or not the cohort members had been breastfed to changes in their social class status between childhood (age five or seven) and adulthood (age 33 or 34).
Social class was categorised on a four-point scale ranging from unskilled/semi-skilled manual to professional/managerial.
The research also took account of a wide range of other potentially influential factors, derived from regular follow-ups every few years. These included children’s brain (cognitive) development and stress scores, which were assessed using validated tests at the ages of 10-11.
Significantly fewer children were breastfed in 1970 than in 1958. More than two-thirds (68%) of mothers breastfed their children in 1958, compared with just over one in three (36%) in 1970.
Social mobility also changed over time, with those born in 1970 more likely to be upwardly mobile, and less likely to be downwardly mobile, than those born in 1958.
None the less, when background factors were accounted for, children who had been breastfed were consistently more likely to have climbed the social ladder than those who had not been breastfed. This was true of those born in both 1958 and 1970.
What’s more, the size of the “breastfeeding effect” was the same in both time periods. Breastfeeding increased the odds of upwards mobility by 24% and reduced the odds of downward mobility by around 20% for both groups.
Intellect and stress accounted for around a third (36%) of the total impact of breastfeeding: breastfeeding enhances brain development, which boosts intellect, which in turn increases upwards social mobility. Breastfed children also showed fewer signs of stress.
The evidence suggests that breastfeeding confers a range of long-term health, developmental, and behavioural advantages to children, which persist into adulthood, say the authors.
They note that it is difficult to pinpoint which affords the greatest benefit to the child - the nutrients found in breast milk or the skin to skin contact and associated bonding during breastfeeding.
“Perhaps the combination of physical contact and the most appropriate nutrients required for growth and brain development is implicated in the better neurocognitive and adult outcomes of breastfed infants,” they suggest.
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