Consumption of Sugary Drinks While Breastfeeding May Impact Infant Cognitive Development?
A new study has come to light suggesting that consumption of sugary drinks while breastfeeding can have negative effects on the cognitive development of infants.
This research was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, where the researchers studied the link between early childhood development and the mother's diet consisting of sugary beverages following the months after giving birth.
Program Director for Diabetes and Obesity at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Michael I. Goran, Ph.D., has previously studied how sugar can have an effect on family health. In his previous study, he showed that consumption of sugary beverages and juices in the months after giving birth put mothers at risk for weight gain, and may also expose their newborns to these added sugars when breastfeeding.
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Now, this new study revealed how drinking sugary beverages during the breastfeeding period may impact negative cognitive development in children nearly two years later.
According to Goran, while breastfeeding has many benefits, breastmilk is greatly influenced by the mothers' diet.
The participants of the study included 88 mothers who were asked to report how much sugary beverages and juices they have consumed per day during the first month of breastfeeding. Another follow up was done after breastfeeding for six months to assess their daily diet of sugary drinks as well.
Their children were then assessed at 2 years old using the Bayley-III Scales of Infant Development. This is a clinical evaluation designed to assess the developmental domains in children through specific developmental play tasks. Infants were tested on things such as paying attention to both familiar and unfamiliar objects, looking for a fallen object, and pretend play. These tasks can be used to assess recognition, understanding, and motor skills and help identify developmental delays if present so that early intervention may be given.
Moms who reported greater consumption of sugary beverages and juices had children who rated poorly in their cognitive development scores.
The researchers speculated that the infants were exposed to the added sugar from the mom's diet through breast milk, and this led to interference with proper brain development.
Sugary Drinks and Whole Fruits
Researchers also took into account the maternal age and education level, as well as infant sex and birth weight.
Since sugary drinks and juices contain fructose, the study also keeps track of the mothers' consumption of whole fruits to see if this also produced the same result. But the outcome of the study showed there was no association between fruit consumption and infant cognitive scores.
The study concluded that only sugary beverages and juices contributed to infant neurodevelopmental outcomes and not whole fruits. As the fructose in fruits is lower in amount and bound to fiber, compared to fructose in juices and soft drinks which is considered "free fructose," their rate of metabolism differs.
Paige K. Berger, Ph.D., RD, Postdoctoral Research Fellow and first author of the study, said that these findings can serve as a guide in future nutrition recommendations for moms during breastfeeding, to better ensure that babies are receiving the best quality nutrition and getting the right building blocks for cognitive development.
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Oct 06, 2020 09:45 PM EDT
