Research and development

Research around the health outcome effects of certain interventions follows a certain structure an complicated mathematics to diminish the influence of  ‘’confounding factors’’ on the study findings, in order for the researcher to be sure it is his intervention that made the difference. SES (socio-economic situation) and education level are well known and often used variables used to dim study-results. Result from targeted studies comparing results from developing and developed countries show that these variables are not as stable and sure as they are traditionally accounted for. A large-scaled study by Brion et al Compared results from studies varying countries with different SES and educational structures about the influence of breastfeeding on blood pressure, obesity and diabetes in children. In more developed countries A higher SES was positively correlated to higher breastfeeding rates, but not in less developed countries. In developed countries a clear positive correlation was found between breastfeeding and lower blood pressure, better BMI’s and higher IQ’s, but in less developed countries this was only true for breastfeeding and higher IQ. IQ positively turns out to be not only a matter of inherited benefits, but of infant feeding choices as well. And evenly evident it seems to be that besides and after breastfeeding BMI and blood pressure in later life are influenced by more than infant feeding alone. The COHORTS study revealed amongst others that in the developing countries participating in these studies breastfeeding or not hardly has any measurable influence on blood pressure, obesity and diabetes later in life. The researchers point out that more research, that fine-tunes the categories of ‘’ever or never breastfed’’, duration of breastfeeding and of exclusive breastfeeding might change these findings. In many developing countries breastfeeding incidence is high, but breastfeeding duration and more so duration of exclusive breastfeeding may be quite low.
Brion M-JA, Lawlor DA, Matijasevich A, Horta B, Anselmi L, Araújo CL, Menezes AMB,
Victora CG, Smith GD:  What are the causal effects of breastfeeding on IQ, obesity and blood pressure? Evidence from comparing high-income with middle-income cohorts Int. J. Epidemiol. (2011) dyr020 first published online February 24, 2011
Fall CHD, Borja JB, Osmond C, Richter, Bhargava SK, Martorell R, Stein AD, Barros FC, Victora CG, and the COHORTS group: Infant-feeding patterns and cardiovascular risk factors in young adulthood: data from five cohorts in low- and middle-income countries Int. J. Epidemiol. (2011) 40(1): 47-62 first published online September 17, 2010