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Breastfed babies have greater chance of climbing social ladder, claims study

Breastfed babies have greater chance of climbing social ladder, claims study

While the health benefits of breast feeding are well-known, a new British study claims there is a social status benefit as well.

The study, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, says people who are breastfeed as a baby are more 24 per cent more likely to be upwardly mobile – and 20 per cent less likely to drop down the social ladder.

"Our study adds to evidence on the health benefits of breast feeding by showing that there may be lifelong social benefits," write the researchers.

The researchers looked at more than 34,000 British people from two groups, those born in 1958 and those in 1970. They assessed whether the participants climbed or dropped the social ladder by looking at the job their father did when they were 10 or 11 and the job they themselves had when they were 33 or 34.

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Social class was categorized on a four-point scale ranging from unskilled or semi-skilled to professional or managerial.

The researchers also assessed the participants cognitive performance and stress levels every few years.

The results show a 36 per cent correlation between breastfeeding and cognitive abilities or stress scores. Breastfed children exhibited fewer signs of emotional stress, which the authors claim may have contributed to their success later in the life.

"There are few studies that look at the long-term outcomes of breastfeeding, but this study shows its long-lasting positive effect,” researcher and professor Amanda Sacker from the University College London tells the Independent.

The interesting thing about the researchers conclusions is that they assume breastfeeding causes upward social mobility. They argue that breastfeeding enhances brain development, which boosts intellect, which in turn increases upward social mobility.

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“Perhaps the combination of physical contact and the most appropriate nutrients required for growth and brain development is implicated in the better neurocognitive and adult outcomes of breastfed infants,” they write.

Yet the reality is this study cannot prove breastfeeding causes upward social mobility. Rather that there is simply a relationship between these to factors. There are other possible explanations for this relationship.

For example, the upward social status of breastfed babies could be because parents who breastfed their babies are overall better educated, and therefore enroll their children in better schools, which accounts for their later social standing in life.

What are your thoughts on breastfeeding and social status? Do you believe that breast feeding increases intellect, which in term increases social standing?