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New Study Takes A Look At The Benefits Of Breastfeeding

By Dr. Brian McDonough

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- A new study takes a good look at the benefits of breastfeeding. It's in the journal Pediatrics, and it looked at 1,500 mothers and followed them and their infants up to six years later.

What the study found is that infants of mothers who breast fed, at age six, had lower rates of obesity, healthier diets, and they also had lower consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and a higher consumption of water.

In addition to that, they ate more fruits and vegetables.

Now, those who looked at the study also said the mothers sampled were more likely to be white, married, older and highly educated.

They said these factors could also contribute to the differences in diet that occur, years down the road.

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