Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. May 15, 2023; 14(5): 617-631
Published online May 15, 2023. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v14.i5.617
Cardiometabolic effects of breastfeeding on infants of diabetic mothers
Reem Elbeltagi, Mohammed Al-Beltagi, Nermin Kamal Saeed, Adel Salah Bediwy
Reem Elbeltagi, Department of Medicine, Irish Royal College of Surgeon, Busaiteen 15503, Bahrain
Mohammed Al-Beltagi, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta 31511, Egypt
Mohammed Al-Beltagi, Department of Pediatrics, University Medical Center, King Abdulla Medical City, Arabian Gulf University, Manama 26671, Bahrain
Nermin Kamal Saeed, Medical Microbiology Section, Department of Pathology, Salmaniya Medical Complex, Ministry of Health, Kingdom of Bahrain, Manama 12, Bahrain
Nermin Kamal Saeed, Department of Microbiology, Irish Royal College of Surgeon, Bahrain, Busaiteen 15503, Bahrain
Adel Salah Bediwy, Department of Chest Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta 31527, Egypt
Adel Salah Bediwy, Department of Pulmonology, University Medical Center, King Abdulla Medical City, Arabian Gulf University, Manama 26671, Bahrain
Author contributions: Elbeltagi R, Al-Biltagi M, Saeed NK, and Bediwy AS collected the data, wrote and revised the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest for this article.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mohammed Al-Beltagi, MBChB, MD, MSc, PhD, Academic Editor, Chairman, Consultant Physician-Scientist, Professor, Researcher, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Al Bahr Street, Tanta 31511, Egypt. mbelrem@hotmail.com
Received: December 19, 2022
Peer-review started: December 19, 2022
First decision: February 28, 2023
Revised: March 1, 2023
Accepted: April 7, 2023
Article in press: April 7, 2023
Published online: May 15, 2023
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Breast milk is the best and principal nutritional source for neonates. Breast milk is the best and principal nutritional source for neonates. Breast milk is the best and principal nutritional source for neonates. Breast milk is the best and principal nutritional source for neonates. Gestational diabetes has short and long-term effects on infants of diabetic mothers (IDM). Gestational diabetes has short and long-term effects on IDM.

Research motivation

Breast milk of mothers with diabetes has different compositions. Therefore, it is expected to have different effects than those from non-diabetic mothers.

Research objectives

We aimed to investigate the positive or negative cardiometabolic effects of breastfeeding on the health of IDM and their mothers.

Research methods

We searched different search engines and conducted a thorough literature review of the cardiometabolic effects of breastfeeding on the health of IDM and their mothers. We included 121 articles published in English between January, 2000 and December 15, 2022 in this review.

Research results

Most of the literature agreed that breast milk has many beneficial effects for both the mother and their infant in the short and long terms. Breastfeeding protects mothers with gestational diabetes against obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). There is some evidence that breastfeeding has protective effects on IDM in the short and long term. However, this evidence is not strong enough due to the presence of many confounding factors and a lack of sufficient studies.

Research conclusions

Breastfeeding has numerous favorable effects for both breastfeeding mothers and their infants, protecting the offspring against overweight, obesity, insulin resistance, prediabetes, DM, and metabolic syndrome regardless of gestational diabetes status. In addition, it prevents major risk factors that predispose to cardiovascular diseases in childhood and adulthood. Every effort should be made to teach mothers the benefits of breastfeeding in controlling DM, cardiovascular diseases, and hypertension in women and their offspring.

Research perspectives

We need to study the protective effects of breastfeeding on IDM in the short and long term. We have to perform more extensive and multicentre studies for a longer duration and different races to ensure the beneficial roles of breastfeeding on various items of metabolic and cardiovascular health and disorders both in paediatrics and adulthood. We should request that those infant formula companies perform their best to mimic breast milk and reduce the gap between the advantages of breast milk and the disadvantages of infant formula.