08/15/2026
🚨 New Study: increasing breastfeeding rates to 90% could save 72,300 noncommunicable disease deaths globally per year.
✨️ Formula feeding does carry risks, which is why breastfeeding on a population level is a public health concern. Individual benefit vs risk is different for each mother baby dyad.
This study also found increasing breastfeeding to 90% could prevent 10 million cases of diabetes across the lifespan of the cohort.
Of the delayed NCDSs, most delayed deaths were from ischaemic heart disease (43%) and stroke (33%), with cancer accounting for 18%.
Study authors interpreted the data to mean: Scaling up exclusive breastfeeding coverage could lead to benefits in reducing NCDs, complementing its established benefits for child mortality and early childhood development.
Essentially, this study added to the importance of breastfeeding on a global population level. Breastfeeding absolutely saves lives.
This study, published in the Lancet, focused on low and middle income countries. What does this mean for people in wealthier countries? Breastfeeding benefits still exist wherever you live and reduce the risk of developing cancer, diabetes, etc. However, in a wealthier country, you may have access to additional preventative measures and care, and access to medical care if you become sick.
Wherever you live, breastfeeding is the biological norm following a pregnancy
At the population level, breastfeeding reduces risk and has significant benefit.
As parents, we make decisions on individual levels.
For simple math, let's say on a population level the risk of allergies is 15 in 100 in not breastfeeding infants but in breastfeeding infants it's 5 in 100. Breastfeeding does not mean there's a 0% chance of allergies and not breastfeeding doesn't mean a 100% chance of allergies. Simply, when we look at large groups, more formula fed infants have allergies compared to breastfed infants.
All this said, breastfeeding is not easy. Low rates are often associated with lack of support, early return to work, birth complications, etc.
What support did you wish you had?
