Prolonged breastfeeding and risk of obesity

Recent research has delved into the relationship between prolonged breastfeeding and risk of obesity.

The study was carried out by Galician researchers from the Center for Biomedical Research in the Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition Network (CIBEROBN) in Spain, the Singular Center for Research in Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases (CiMUS, of the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC )) and the Sanitary Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS). The work has been directed by Luisa María Seoane, and has the collaboration of international groups from France and Germany.

Research has succeeded in discovering why prolonged breastfeeding protects against obesity in adulthood.

The study authors have shown through experiments that rodent pups that are breastfed for a longer period of time are less likely to be obese as adults, even when exposed to a high-fat diet.

“We are very satisfied because, for the first time, we have described the mechanism by which breastfeeding protects against the development of obesity with long-term effects in adulthood,” says Luisa Seoane. The results obtained show that rodent pups maintain this protective effect even when exposed to diets with a high caloric content.

This phenomenon can be explained, according to Seoane and his colleagues, by the release of a protein known as fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) from the liver, which can reach the hypothalamus, the region of the brain that plays a key role in the control of the consumption and utilization of energy in the body. Once in the hypothalamus, FGF21 activates dopamine receptors, a neurotransmitter with multiple biological functions. This, in turn, leads to increased activity of brown fat, a fat that burns calories, and therefore leads to higher energy expenditure.

From left to right: Raquel Pérez Lois, Verónica Peña, Silvia Barja, Luisa Seoane, Cecilia Castelao, Cintia Folgueira and Patricia González, members of the research team. (Photo: CIBEROBN)

Although the impact of maternal nutrition on offspring has been extensively studied, the mechanisms by which breastfeeding influences energy balance throughout life were not yet understood. “Our work describes for the first time the existence of a mechanism altered by breastfeeding with permanent effects until adulthood and that involves both peripheral organs, such as the liver or adipose tissue, and the brain”, explains the CIBEROBN principal investigator.

Although it is the first time that the mechanism responsible for the beneficial effects of breastfeeding has been described and this constitutes an unprecedented achievement, the researchers acknowledge that “future research is needed, however, to determine if these effects also occur in humans at through clinical studies and better understand the long-term metabolic benefits of breastfeeding.”

The work, whose first authors are Verónica Peña, Cintia Folgueira and Silvia Barja, has been led by Luisa Seoane (CHUS-SERGAS), director of the IDIS Endocrine Physiopathology research group, and Professor Rubén Nogueiras (CiMUS-USC) (group Molecular Metabolism), both belonging to the CIBEROBN.

The study is titled “Prolonged breastfeeding protects from obesity by hypothalamic action of hepatic FGF21.” And it has been published in the academic journal Nature Metabolism. (Source: CIBEROBN)