母乳喂养与智力的关系[中英对照]

　　一篇发表于《英国医学》杂志的研究报道，在配对研究中，母乳喂养的孩子比用牛乳喂养的孩子更加聪明，但这与牛奶的成分没有什么关系。

十几年来，科学家们一直致力于寻找喂养方式与智力的关系，但都报道遗传和环境因素影响着儿童的智力。

根据星期三发布于《期刊在线》的研究，研究者分析了来自美国的5000名儿童和3000名母亲的数据，发现采用母乳喂养的孩子更加聪明。

“随着这一事实的发布，多种关于母乳喂养与孩子智力的关系消失了。”报告的其中一位作者Jeff Dar说。

“研究揭示智力还由母乳喂养以外的其它因素决定。”

研究并没有终止智力与母乳喂养关系的争论。

“问题是现在要尝试揭示母乳喂养的效果要超过其它外部因素，”利兹大学的婴儿哺乳高级讲师Mike Woolridge说。

他说，其它的研究已经证明了智力与母乳喂养的关系。

“我完全相信母乳喂养会更好，大脑化学成分更加平衡，我确信你可以根据大脑活动来测定。”Woolridge说。

研究者发现母乳喂养的孩子在IQ测试上会表现得更好，但这是因为他们的母亲更聪明，受过更好的教育，能够提供更多促进的家庭环境。

研究部分方法包括对同胞出生但喂养方式不同的兄妹进行测试。

“像这样比较来自同一家庭的两个人是可以得到结果的好方法，因为这可以减少家庭背景的影响。这证明了早期研究的结果――母乳喂养的孩子不会更聪明。”Dar说。

纽约大学儿童研究中心的早期儿童服务主管，Chris Lucas博士，大力称赞这个报告，因为研究重视母亲智力对结果的影响。

“智力是最可能遗传的，孩子的智力在很大程度上是由其父母的智力决定的。”他说，“如果你不测量母亲的智力，也就有可能出现母乳喂养的孩子智力的相关。”

Dar说，尽管他的团队研究发现母乳喂养完全是一桩小事，与智力没有关系。因为其它的，包括避开感染、呼吸疾病的强大能力以及保护成长中的应变都对母亲和孩子有益。

译者：Roger

Breast-Feeding, Intelligence Link Probed

Associated Press - October 05, 2006

LONDON - Breast-fed children are more intelligent than their bottle-fed counterparts, but this has nothing to do with the content of the milk they receive, a study published in the British Medical Journal said.

For decades scientists have been looking for a correlation between feeding and intelligence, but the report says genetic and environmental factors affect a child's intellect.

Researchers, who analyzed data from more than 5,000 children and 3,000 mothers in the United States, found that mothers who breast-feed tend to be more intelligent, according to a study published Wednesday on the journal's Web site.

"When this fact was taken into account, most of the relationship between breast-feeding and the child's intelligence disappeared," said Jeff Dar, one of the report's authors.

"This research shows that intelligence is determined by factors other than breast-feeding,"

The report won't end the debate about the relationship between intelligence and breast-feeding.

"The problem is trying to show the impact of breast-feeding over and above outside variables," said Mike Woolridge, senior lecturer in infant feeding at the University of Leeds.

He said other studies on the subject have claimed a link to intelligence.

"I fundamentally believe breast-feeding builds a better, more balanced brain in terms of its chemical composition and I'm sure you can measure that in terms of brain performance," Woolridge said.

The researchers found that children who were breast-fed did better on IQ tests, but this was because their mothers were more intelligent, better educated and able to provide a more stimulating home environment.

Part of the research methodology included testing pairs of siblings, for whom feeding habits differed.

"Comparing two people from the same family like this is a good way of getting results that are less affected by family background. This confirmed the earlier results - the breast-fed child was no more intelligent," Dar said.

Dr. Chris Lucas, director of the Early Childhood Service at the New York University Child Study Center, praised the report for taking into account the impact of maternal intelligence on the findings.

"Intelligence is probably one of the most heritable things. Intelligence of a child is very much determined by the intelligence of the parents," he said. "If you don't measure the mother's intelligence, it may appear that there is a link with breast-feeding."

Dar said though his team's study found no link to intelligence, breast-feeding was "definitely the smart thing to do," because of other benefits to both mother and child, including a stronger ability to ward off infections, respiratory illnesses and protection against developing allergies.

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