ArticlePloS one2015
Breastfeeding and IQ Growth from Toddlerhood through Adolescence.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 58 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparative Analysis of Breastfeeding and Infant Formulas: Short- and Long-Term Impacts on Infant Nutrition and Health.Food science & nutrition · 2025Review
- Breastfeeding and Children's Cognitive Development up to the Age of 4 Years: The Japan Environment and Children's Study.Breastfeeding medicine : the official journal of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine · 2024Article
- Unraveling the effects of maternal breastfeeding duration and exclusive breast milk on children's cognitive abilities in early childhood.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Article
- Cannabis use and breastfeeding: do we know enough?South African journal of psychology = Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir sielkunde · 2020Article
- The Effect of Stress Inoculation Training on Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy and Perceived Stress of Mothers With Low Birth Weight Infants: A Clinical Trial.Journal of family & reproductive health · 2018Article
- Psychological effects of breastfeeding on children and mothers.Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz · 2018Review
- Might the Mothers of Premature Babies Feed Them and Devote Some Milk to the Milk Bank?International journal of pediatrics · 2018Article
- Cow's milk allergy: towards an update of DRACMA guidelines.The World Allergy Organization journal · 2016Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesThe benefits of breastfeeding for cognitive development continue to be hotly debated but are yet to be supported by conclusive empirical evidence.
methodsWe used here a latent growth curve modeling approach to test the association of breastfeeding with IQ growth trajectories, which allows differentiating the variance in the IQ starting point in early life from variance in IQ gains that occur later in childhood through adolescence. Breastfeeding (yes/ no) was modeled as a direct predictor of three IQ latent growth factors (i.e. intercept, slope and quadratic term) and adjusted for the covariates socioeconomic status, mother's age at birth and gestational stage. Data came from the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS), a prospective cohort study of twins born between 1996 and 1994 in the United Kingdom, who were assessed 9 times on IQ between age 2 and 16 years (N = 11,582).
resultsHaving been breastfed was associated with a small yet significant advantage in IQ at age 2 in girls (β = .07, CI 95% from 0.64 to 3.01; N = 3,035) but not in boys (β = .04, CI 95% from -0.14 to 2.41). Having been breastfeeding was neither associated with the other IQ growth factors in girls (slope: β = .02, CI 95% from -0.25 to 0.43; quadratic: β = .01, CI 95% from -0.02 to 0.02) nor in boys (slope: β = .02, CI 95% from -0.30 to 0.47; quadratic: β = -.01, CI 95% from -0.01 to 0.01).
conclusionsBreastfeeding has little benefit for early life intelligence and cognitive growth from toddlerhood through adolescence.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.