According to MedscapeWire, long-term breastfeeding reduces the risk of respiratory infections and improves children's intellectual development. This is proved by the results of articles presented at the joint annual conference of academic pediatric societies and the American Academy of Pediatrics held in 2002 in Baltimore (United States), as well as by research data published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in May 2002. Results presented serve as additional scientific justification for the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations on preference for exclusive breastfeeding of infants in the first 6 months of life.

Infants who have been exclusively breastfed for 6 months have a much lower risk of developing respiratory infections in the first two years of life compared to infants who have been breastfed for 4 months. These two months of breastfeeding reduced the risk of pneumonia by 5 times, recurrent otitis media - by 2 times.

These results were obtained by a team of researchers led by Dr. Caroline J. Chantry of the University of California who analyzed the data of 2277 children aged 6 to 24 months from a national NHANES III study in the United States in 1988-1994. During the analysis, all other factors that could affect its outcome were adjusted: age, birth weight, ethnic origin, parents' income and education, composition and number of families, quality of childcare, exposure to prenatal tobacco smoke, etc..d.

The data obtained, as well as the proven protective properties of breastfeeding against infections of the gastrointestinal tract, confirm once again the already obvious fact that the longer the baby receives breast milk, the more it is beneficial for his health.

The results of another long-term prospective cohort study, which analyzed data from 973 men and 2,280 women born in Copenhagen (Denmark) in 1959-1961, after adjusting for other factors that may affect the outcome, have shown that long-term breastfeeding has long-term positive effects on cognitive and intellectual development. This is confirmed by the results of the assessment of speech ability, indicators on the IQ scale (Wechsler) and a similar Danish test to assess intellectual ability. Research director Dr. Erik L. Mortensen and colleagues at the University of Copenhagen believe that these positive effects of breastfeeding are due to several factors: specific nutrients in breast milk, special behavioral reactions and other factors which determine the choice of the type of food.