Pregnancy and breastfeeding have no long-term deleterious effects on bone, shows a study in 4,681 postmenopausal women aged 50–94 years. Using Cox's proportional hazard models, the researchers of the Tromsø study found that breastfeeding could even contribute to a reduced risk of hip fracture after menopause. Compared with women who did not breastfeed after birth (n = 184), those who breastfed (n = 3,564) had a 50% reduced risk of hip fracture.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER
Bjørnerem, A. et al. Breastfeeding protects against hip fracture in postmenopausal women: the Tromsø study. J. Bone Miner. Res. doi:10.1002/jbmr.496
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Breastfeeding protects against hip fracture later in life. Nat Rev Endocrinol 7, 632 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2011.168
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2011.168
