“In two studies of breast-fed infants involving more than 3,000 children in Britain and New Zealand, breastfeeding was found to raise intelligence an average of nearly seven IQ points if the children had a particular version of a gene called FADS2,” Duke University reported in a press release.
That gene version is “involved in the control of fatty acid pathways,” said researcher and University of Illinois-Chicago psychologist Julia Kim-Cohen, and it “may help the children make better use of the breast milk and promote the brain development that is associated with a higher IQ score.”
Figuring out the exact mechanism of this relationship between FADS2, breastfeeding, and IQ will require further study, the scientists noted in their 2007 paper on the finding.
