A recent study has confirmed the association between breastfeeding and lower risk of maternal hypertension.

The findings have been published in the journal Breastfeeding Medicine. Researchers not only confirmed that breastfeeding for as short as 1-4 months can have a protective affect against high blood pressure in women, but that lactation also can protect women across an extended follow-up of years to decades.

The article was co-authored by Eliana Bonifacino and Jennifer Corbelli of Montefiore Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA; Eleanor Schwartz of University of California Davis Medical Center, Sacramento; Hyejo Jun of Health Center for Women, Saint Paul, MN; and Charles Wessel of University of Pittsburgh, PA.

The researchers found that, compared to the studies with short-term follow-up, those that included longer durations of follow-up were more likely to show a positive association with breastfeeding. "Once again, it is confirmed that breastfeeding provides major health benefits not only to the infant but, also, no less so, to the nursing mother," said Arthur I. Eidelman.