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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Glob. Womens Health
Sec. Maternal Health
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fgwh.2024.1251849

Association of breastfeeding duration with overweight and obesity among women in Ghana

Provisionally accepted
Anthony M. Tampah-Naah Anthony M. Tampah-Naah 1*Derek A. Tuoyire Derek A. Tuoyire 2
  • 1 SD Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies, Bamahu, Ghana
  • 2 University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Central Region, Ghana

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: There is a general concurrence on the health benefits that breastfeeding confers to children, including offering maximal protection against obesity across their life course. However, the scientific evidence on similar benefits for women who breastfeed their children remains inconclusive. This study contributes to the discourse by examining the association of breastfeeding duration with overweight and obesity among women in Ghana.Methods: Data on 8,516 women of reproductive age were pooled from the last five (5) Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys, and analysed using descriptive proportions and logistic regression models.Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was about 8% lower for women who breastfed their children beyond 18 months (overweight=13%, obesity=5%) compared with women who did not breastfeed (overweight=21%, obesity=13%) their children at all. With reference to women who did not breastfeed their children, a significant lower odds of obesity was observed for those who breastfed their children for 13-18 months (OR=0.46, 95% CI=0.268, 0.864) and ≥19 months (OR=0.41, 95% CI=0.216, 0.764), after adjusting for possible confounding factors.Conclusions: Women who breastfeed their children for a minimum of 12 months have lower risk of developing obesity. Promoting prolonged breastfeeding among mothers could be an effective pathway to preventing obesity among women in Ghana.

    Keywords: Obesity, Overweight, breastfeeding, Women, Children, Ghana

    Received: 24 Sep 2023; Accepted: 15 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Tampah-Naah and Tuoyire. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Anthony M. Tampah-Naah, SD Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies, Bamahu, Ghana

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.