Bottle-fed babies are a quarter more likely to end up obese

Babies who are bottle-fed are quarter more likely to end up obese, research by the World Health Organisation suggests. The study of almost 30,000 children - the largest of its kind - found breast-feeding had a “protective” effect, reducing the chance of ending up with a weight problem. Those who were exclusively bottle-fed were 25 per cent more likely to be obese, the research on 16 nations found.   And in some countries, the risk was up to 90 per cent higher, the research presented at the European Congress of Obesity in Glasgow. If mothers did a mixture of breastfeeding and formula milk, the chance of their children ending up obese was 12 per cent higher than if they only had mother’s milk. Breastfeeding rates in Britain remain among the lowest in the world. Around one in ten children in the UK are obese by the age of five. Breast milk contains hormones which help to regulate energy balance, and affects gut bacteria. Credit: Katie Rollings/ Cultura RF But the new international study found one in six children who are bottle-fed is obese by this point. Experts believe formula milk may cause babies to gain more weight because it is developed from cows' milk which has higher levels of protein and may trigger the growth of fat cells. Breast milk contains hormones which help to regulate energy balance, and affects gut bacteria. While 73 per cent of babies start off being breast-fed, just 45 per cent receive it after six weeks. At six months, just 1 per cent are being given only breast milk, as the WHO recommends. Breastfeeding rates | Around the world In Spain rates are 28.5 per cent, with rates of 34 per cent in Portugal and 18 per cent in the Netherlands. The WHO called for more support to help mothers breast feed and less promotion of formula milk. Dr João Breda, Head of the WHO European Office for Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases, said Governments must do more to promote breast-feeding. He said:  “Breastfeeding has a really strong protective effect. The evidence is there. The benefit is outstanding so we should be telling people." Sue Ashmore, director of the Unicef UK’s Baby Friendly Initiative said breastfeeding was “the first defence against the epidemic of obesity”. She said: “In the UK we have some of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world, with eight out of ten women stopping breastfeeding before they want to.”