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Breastfed children are less likely to develop ADHD later in life, study suggests

Today nearly 10% of children in U.S. schools are diagnosed with having attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. ADHD is a mental disorder that causes children to have difficulty attending to and completing tasks (Boyd, Bee. 2012). The cause of ADHD is unknown, but in the last year, researchers from Tel Aviv University have been able to prove that breastfeeding may help protect against ADHD. Dr. Aviva Mimouni-Bloch, of Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine, completed a study which “focused on the breastfeeding parents habits of three different groups of children.” Group one were children that have been already diagnosed with ADHD, group two where siblings of those diagnosed with ADHD, and group three, who were also the controlled group, were children without ADHD. With gathering this information researchers have been able to find “a clear relationship between the rate of breastfeeding and the possibility of developing ADHD.” While doing this research the parents were required to answer a detailed questionnaire to remove any possibility of other factors having an impact on the results. The researchers eventually uncovered that “children with ADHD were less likely to be breastfed in the first year of life.” Those children that were bottle-fed were said to be “three times more likely to develop ADHD,” than those that were being breastfed during the same period of time. It is believed that this research shows that "breastfeeding can have a protective effect against the development of the disorder, and can be counted as an additional biological advantage for breastfeeding" (Breastfed children are less likely. 2013).

References: Boyd, D., & Bee, H. (2012). Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood. //Lifespan develpment// (Second custom edition for St. Johns River State College ed., ). Upper Saddie River: Prentice Hall.

American Friends of Tel Aviv University. (2013, July 22). Breastfed children are less likely to develop ADHD later in life, study suggests. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 17, 2014 from [|www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130722152739.htm]

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