prev next front |1 |2 |3 |4 |5 |6 |7 |8 |9 |10 |11 |12 |13 |14 |15 |16 |17 |18 |19 |20 |21 |22 |23 |24 |25 |review
Birth weight and breast-feeding have independent effects on the risk of development of Type 2 diabetes. Among Pima Indians, infants with very low or high birth weight have two times higher risk of developing diabetes than those with birth weight lying in the normal range. The finding of the low birth weight infants having increased risk of developing diabetes is similar to that found by Professor Hales and Barker in England. However, the excess of diabetes in the high birth weight infants is mainly due to the effects of diabetes on pregnancy which itself will give rise to macrosomic infants. Breast fed infants have a lower prevalence of diabetes in later life regardless of their birth weight. The mechanism is uncertain, but bottle-fed infants are heavier than breast-fed ones at five years of age.

prev next front |1 |2 |3 |4 |5 |6 |7 |8 |9 |10 |11 |12 |13 |14 |15 |16 |17 |18 |19 |20 |21 |22 |23 |24 |25 |review