Overweight and its relationship with duration of breastfeeding in preschoolers

Abstract

Introduction: obesity is increasing significantly, even in children and adolescents. Breastfeeding has been implicated as a preventive factor of many diseases and in recent years the protective role of breastfeeding against childhood obesity has been observed. Objective: to investigate the prevalence of overweight and its relationship with breastfeeding in children aged 48-60 months. Methods: across-sectional study was conducted involving collection of anthropometric data of children aged 48-60 months from public schools of a city located in Minas Gerais-MG, Brazil, for calculation of body mass index (BMI) and nutritional classification. Data on breastfeeding duration and current feeding were also collected, as well as demographic and socioeconomic variables. Overweight was considered the outcome variable. The main explanatory variable was breastfeeding while the control variables were current feeding and demographic and socioeconomic variables. The relationship between the outcome and explanatory variables was assessed using Poisson regression. Results: the prevalence of overweight children was 9.6%. Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for upto 6 months or loger was given to 32.11% of children. The study showed a positive relationship between the presence of EBF and absence of overweight in children aged 48-60 months for the category EBF for 6 months or longer. A similar relationship was not found for complemented breastfeeding. Conclusions: the prevalence of overweight children in the study (9.6%) was higher than the national average (7%). Exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months or longer was associated with absence of overweight and complemented breastfeeding was not associated with children’s weight.