Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council (CNR), 56124 Pisa, Italy.
IRCCS Fondazione Stella Maris, Calambrone, 56128 Pisa, Italy.
Nutrients. 2020 Aug 2;12(8):2320. doi: 10.3390/nu12082320.
Cognitive disorders are increasing in prevalence. Nutritional or metabolic stressors during early life, and female sex, are predisposing conditions towards the development of cognitive diseases, including Alzheimer's disease. Though there is evidence that breastfeeding may play a beneficial role in children's neurocognitive development, the literature remains controversial. In this study we aimed at assessing the association between exclusive breastfeeding and children's cognitive development from six months to five years of age, addressing sex differences. In 80 mother-child pairs from the Pisa birth cohort (PISAC), we measured cognitive development in groups of children of 6, 12, 18, 24, 36, and 60 months by Griffiths Mental Development Scales, parents' intelligence quotient (IQ) by Raven's progressive matrices, and maternal and infants' anthropometric parameters. We found that exclusive breastfeeding was associated with higher hearing-language development in five years old girls, independent of maternal IQ, age and BMI (body mass index). Exclusive breastfeeding in the first three months of life seemed sufficient to establish this positive relationship. In conclusion, our data indicate that exclusive breastfeeding is a positive predictor of cognitive development in preschool-age girls, paving the way for the implementation of sex-specific cognitive disease risk detection and prevention strategies from early life. Further studies are warranted to explore causality and longer term effects.
认知障碍的发病率正在上升。生命早期的营养或代谢应激以及女性性别是导致认知疾病发展的易感条件，包括阿尔茨海默病。虽然有证据表明母乳喂养可能对儿童的神经认知发育有有益的作用，但文献仍然存在争议。在这项研究中，我们旨在评估从 6 个月到 5 岁期间，纯母乳喂养与儿童认知发育之间的关系，并探讨性别差异。在比萨出生队列（PISAC）的 80 对母婴中，我们通过格里菲斯心理发育量表测量了 6、12、18、24、36 和 60 个月大的儿童组的认知发育，通过瑞文渐进矩阵测量了父母的智商（IQ），并测量了母婴的人体测量参数。我们发现，在不考虑母亲智商、年龄和 BMI（体重指数）的情况下，纯母乳喂养与 5 岁女孩的听力-语言发育较高有关。生命头 3 个月的纯母乳喂养似乎足以建立这种积极的关系。总之，我们的数据表明，纯母乳喂养是学龄前女孩认知发育的积极预测因素，为从生命早期开始实施针对特定性别的认知疾病风险检测和预防策略铺平了道路。需要进一步的研究来探索因果关系和更长期的影响。
