AUTHOR=Tuoyire Derek Anamaale , Tampah-Naah Anthony Mwinilanaa 

TITLE=Association of breastfeeding duration with overweight and obesity among women in Ghana

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Global Women's Health

VOLUME=Volume 5 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/global-womens-health/articles/10.3389/fgwh.2024.1251849

DOI=10.3389/fgwh.2024.1251849

ISSN=2673-5059

ABSTRACT=BackgroundThere is a general concurrence on the health benefits that breastfeeding confers to children, including offering maximal protection against obesity across their life course. However, the scientific evidence on similar benefits for women who breastfeed their children remains inconclusive. This study contributes to the discourse by examining the association of breastfeeding duration with overweight and obesity among women in Ghana.MethodsData on 8,516 women of reproductive age were pooled from the last five (5) Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys, and analysed using descriptive proportions and logistic regression models.ResultsThe prevalence of overweight and obesity was about 8% lower for women who breastfed their children beyond 18 months (overweight = 13%, obesity = 5%) compared with women who did not breastfeed (overweight = 21%, obesity = 13%) their children at all. With reference to women who did not breastfeed their children, a significant lower odds of obesity was observed for those who breastfed their children for 13–18 months (OR = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.268, 0.864) and >18 months (OR = 0.41, 95% CI = 0.216, 0.764), after adjusting for possible confounding factors.DiscussionWomen who breastfeed their children for a minimum of 12 months have lower risk of developing obesity. Promoting prolonged breastfeeding among mothers could be an effective pathway to preventing obesity among women in Ghana.