Some of us have heard the statistics.  Children who are breastfed are less likely to develop obesity problems as adults.  Obviously diet and exercise habits or lack thereof contribute to childhood obesity, but breastfeeding is apparently one of the other key elements. 

            Breastfeeding is generally recognized as an efficient, convenient, and cheap way to feed your baby.  Some women in certain countries breastfeed to some degree until their children reach 5 or even 6.  It has been known to create a stronger bond between mother and child, and it is high in nutritional value.  They are apparently more likely than bottle fed babies to learn when they are full and when to stop, and it is not controlled by a bottle size that should be finished according to parents.  The infant is the one controlling the sessions. 

            Apparently, the nutritional value is the biggest thing.  Formulas are energy dense, which means that their systems will create more insulin than they would if they were breastfed.  And from what we hear, the women that breastfeed until the ages of 5 or 6 have something.  The longer a child breastfeeds, the lower their chances of obesity become.  Those who breastfeed till the age of 5 or 6 suffer a 0.8% chance of obesity as compared to 4.5% in those who were never breastfed.  When they reach the ages of 9 to 12, those breastfed for only the first 6 months suffer a 22% lower rate of obesity than those who were never breastfed at all. 

            Finally, once a child reaches adulthood at 18 years of age, those breastfed for even 3 months statistically have less body fat and are significantly leaner than those never breastfed.  So it seems that this can contribute to healthy eating habits and therefore may even have a bigger impact on obesity than diet and exercise alone.