Whether or not a mother can successfully breast-feed her infant may have to do with her concentrations of testosterone, according to a new study from researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The study, published in the journal Acta Obstetricia and Gynecologica Scandinavica, followed 180 women from pregnancy through the first six months of their infants’ lives, and found that, even when controlling for factors such as age or smoking, women with higher levels of testosterone had significantly lower levels of breast-feeding success. What’s more, the team of researchers, led by Sven Carlsen, also conducted a review of 50 studies on the health impact of breast-feeding, and concluded that the benefits may be overemphasized, and that often, benefits attributed to breast-feeding may in fact be as a result of the mother’s healthy pregancy. As Carlsen told the BBC:
“These health differences are really not so significant in any event… When you look at the epidemiological studies and try to strip away the other factors, it is really hard to find any substantial benefits among children who were breastfed as babies.”
