A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that breastfed infants tested 5.2 IQ points higher than formula fed infants, for a comprehensive study involving 11 different studies and over 7000 children.
The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and was performed by University of Kentucky nutritionist James Anderson.
“Our study confirms that breast-feeding is accompanied by about a five-points higher IQ than in bottle-fed infants,” Anderson said.
Within that increase, Anderson and associates were able to separate the benefits from mother-infant bonding from the purely nutritional benefits of human milk.
“Our best estimates are that maternal bonding and the decision to breast-feed account for about 40 percent of that increase, but that 60 percent — 3.2 points — are related to the actual nutritional value of the breast milk,” he said.
The link between breast-feeding and brain development has been well established in recent years, but the reasons for it remain controversial. Some researchers believe the link is based on the fact that well-educated, wealthier women breast-feed far more than poor and less educated women. Consequently, breast-fed children will be found to test better for all the reasons that wealthier children from high social classes test better on standardized tests. But others believe there are chemicals in breast milk that encourage brain development, and that those chemicals are now absent in formula. In particular, extensive research is under way into the effects of several Omega-3 fatty acids – docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (AA) – that are prevalent in breast milk but absent in infant formula.
Therefore Anderson’s group weighed and subtracted 15 factors from their study, such as maternal smoking and education, birth weight, birth order and family income. After all these factors were removed, the researchers still found that breast-fed babies tested 3.1 IQ points higher than formula-fed babies!
Among the rights of infants is that the mother breast-feeds her baby. Breast-feeding her baby is incumbent. It is not permissible for a mother to deny her baby this Allah-given right without a valid reason. Bottle-feeding does not compensate for this violation of the baby’s haqq. Now we see from the above article the benefits of following Allah’s commands. There is Divine Wisdom in all of the commandments of Allah. It is just for us to follow and obey.