Re: [xmca] talking about nature nurture interactions on IQ...

Paul,
i think the issue IS the nutritive nature of the milk, and not
necessarily the act of breast-feeding, at least I am missing
something in your note,
David

On Nov 6, 2007, at 11:49 PM, Paul Dillon wrote:

> A good control study for these findings would be one that evaluated
> babies whose mothers had used a pump to extract the milk but who
> had in fact never breast fed their children but only given them the
> milk in bottles, preferably if the children had been fed with that
> milk by someone other than the mother herself.
>
> Paul
>
> David Preiss <davidpreiss@uc.cl> wrote:
> Study Reveals Link between Breastfeeding And Child IQ
> The Independent - London - November 06, 2007
>
> Babies who are breastfed stand a better chance of becoming
> intelligent children if they also inherit a version of a gene that is
> involved in the growth of the brain, researchers have found.
>
> Two large studies of breastfed children confirm that mother's milk
> does indeed raise IQ in later life - if combined with a gene involved
> in the metabolism of fatty acids.
>
> Scientists believe the discovery blows a hole in the "nature versus
> nurture" debate, as it shows that there is a hitherto unconfirmed
> interaction between our environment and the genes involved in brain
> development.
>
> Terrie Moffitt and Avshalom Caspi, the husband-and-wife team who
> carried out the work at King's College London, found that the IQ
> advantage for breastfed children was only true if they had inherited
> the "C" version of a gene known as FADS2, which handles fatty acids
> in the diet. Breast milk is known to be rich in fatty acids, and
> these compounds are also thought to be important in certain aspects
> of brain development, such as the growth of nerve endings and the
> production of neurotransmitters - chemical messengers in the brain.
>
> It was already accepted that breastfeeding increases a child's IQ
> significantly, but some critics of earlier research pointed out that
> in the West this may be because higher social classes tend both to
> breastfeed their children and spend more money on their education
> than lower social classes. The latest study, published in the journal
> Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, claims to have
> eliminated these potentially confounding social factors.
>
> "Our findings support the idea that the nutritional content of breast
> milk accounts for the differences seen in human IQ. But it's not a
> simple connection: it depends to some extent on the genetic make-up
> of each infant," Professor Moffitt said. "The argument about
> intelligence has been about nature versus nurture for at least a
> century. We're finding that nature and nurture work together."
>
> About 90 per cent of the population have the "C" version of the FADS2
> gene, so most babies could potentially benefit from breastfeeding in
> terms of a raised IQ.
>
> A study has also shown that breastfed babies have a lower risk of
> developing heart disease. Scientists told the American Heart
> Association that breastfeeding is linked with lower weight and higher
> "good" cholesterol levels in adulthood.
>
> (C) 2007 The Independent - London. via ProQuest Information and
> Learning Company; All Rights Reserved
>
> David Preiss, Ph.D.
> Subdirector de Extensión y Comunicaciones
> Escuela de Psicología
> Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
> Av Vicuña Mackenna 4860
> Macul, Santiago
> Chile
>
> Fono: 3544605
> Fax: 3544844
> e-mail: davidpreiss@uc.cl
> web personal: http://web.mac.com/ddpreiss/
> web institucional: http://www.epuc.cl/profesores/dpreiss
>
>
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David Preiss, Ph.D.
Subdirector de Extensión y Comunicaciones
Escuela de Psicología
Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
Av Vicuña Mackenna 4860
Macul, Santiago
Chile

Fono: 3544605
Fax: 3544844
e-mail: davidpreiss@uc.cl
web personal: http://web.mac.com/ddpreiss/
web institucional: http://www.epuc.cl/profesores/dpreiss

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Received on Tue Nov 6 19:02 PST 2007