Increased breast-feeding during the first months of life appears to raise a child's verbal IQ, according to a study of nearly 14,000 children release Monday.
The study in Archives of General Psychiatry found that 6-year-olds whose mothers were part of a program that encouraged them to breast-feed had a verbal IQ that was 7.5 points higher that children in a control group.
The researchers said their findings suggested the longer an infant is fed exclusively breast milk, the greater the IQ improvement.
Lead author Dr. Michael Kramer, a professor of pediatrics at McGill University in Montreal, said the IQ improvements were modest and might not be noticeable on an individual basis. But the increase could have a big effect on society as a whole, he said.
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