The development and use of formula as an alternative to breastfeeding have enabled children to be raised even by people who are not their parents. While this enables better care and growth of children and is sometimes even adopted by mothers to feed their babies, scientists including (Mortensen et al., 2002) premise that breastfeeding and breast milk has significant benefits for the growth and development of children. The study by Mortensen et al. (2002), looks to investigate the association between the duration of breastfeeding and ultimate adult intelligence. The study's hypothesis is "Breastfed babies ultimately become more intelligent in adulthood than their formula-fed counterparts." This makes the independent variables to be Breast milk or Formula while the dependent variable is adult intelligence.
Evidence
The evidence offered is the intelligence levels of over 3000 children in the study assessed using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) at adulthood (mean age 27.2 years). Intelligence in WAIS is described as an individual's capacity to think rationally, act purposefully, and deal effectively with his or her environment. Hall, O'Carroll, and Frith (2010) advance that the scale measures intelligence through the administration of different subtests each tapping into the various aspects of intelligence including the verbal, performance, and Full scale. These results are then reduced to composite Verbal, Performance, and Full-Scale IQ scores which are used to compare individual intelligence.
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The children were divided into 5 different groups based on the duration of breast milk feeding they received as highlighted by their mothers in an interview with physicians. The intelligence test results highlighted that the total duration of breastfeeding the subjects received as children is associated with considerably higher scores on verbal, performance, and Full-scale WAIS IQ scores. This indicates that the more time an individual received breastfeeding, the more intelligent they became and proves the hypothesis that "Breastfed babies ultimately become more intelligent in adulthood than their formula-fed counterparts."
This evidence is derived from an extensive longitudinal study and therefore is empirical and valid.
Explanation
The outcomes of the study's WAIS IQ test were 99.4, 101.7, 102.3, 106.0, and 104.0 for breastfeeding durations of less than 1 month, 2 to 3 months, 4 to 6 months, 7 to 9 months, and more than 9 months, respectively (Mortensen et al., 2002), indicating that the longer a child received breast milk, the more intelligent they potentially became. Acknowledging other potential co-variants that would influence the general outcome of the test such as parental social status and education, the study adjusted for up to 13 factors to ensure a significantly more accurate outcome. According to Mortensen et al. (2002), the thirteen factors adjusted for in the study include Mothers marital status, parental education levels and social status, Mother’s age, height and weight gain during pregnancy, whether or not the mother smoked cigarettes in the third trimester, estimated gestational age, number of pregnancies, birth length, weight and indexes of pregnancy as well as any delivery complications.
These adjustments allowed the authors to rule out any pre-existing differences in the groups as well as any potential advantage that a single individual may have over others that may independently contribute to the IQ differences. As such ultimately the authors explain that the only variable factor determining the intelligence levels is the duration of breastfeeding allowed to the subjects in their first 9 months after birth. The explanation considering all the adjustments made and their potential influence on growth and development makes perfect sense.
Connection
The researcher cannot draw an actual conclusion between the type of food and later intelligence based on this study because there are other factors at play in the test which are not adjusted for. While formula offers almost all the nutrients present in breast milk to enhance child growth and development and is therefore used as an alternative to breast milk, the intelligence test outcomes suggest a difference in later intelligence levels depending on the duration of breastfeeding the subjects received. This highlights that intelligence is not only determined by the diet or type of food rather other factors such as hormones within the breast milk that Formula does not contain.
Other factors such as the care afforded to the child along with the motivation and nurturing in addition to the unique genetic makeup of children also contribute to the growth and development of a child (Singh et al., 2016) and would be significant determinants of their ultimate level of intelligence. This provides an alternative explanation of the results and one that the researchers can also make adjustments for, to be able to establish a causal connection between the types of milk fed to the children and their ultimate adulthood intelligence. Selecting children based on their genetic makeup and offering neutral care, motivation, and nurturing for all the subjects would serve to adjust for such differences.
Practical Implications
Practical implications of the study would include the establishment and confirmation that breast milk is significant and important for child growth and should be adopted over the use of Formula. This study could also open room for further research on how to improve Formula milk to enable its impact on later intelligence among the children who are forced to use it. In this way, more children can be guaranteed to be more intelligent in the future.
References
Hall, J., O'Carroll, R., & Frith, C. (2010). Neuropsychology. Companion to Psychiatric Studies , 121-140. doi: 10.1016/b978-0-7020-3137-3.00007-3
Mortensen, E., Michaelsen, K., Sanders, S., & Reinisch, J. (2002). The Association Between Duration of Breastfeeding and Adult Intelligence. JAMA , 287 (18), 2365. doi: 10.1001/jama.287.18.2365
Singh, Y., Makharia, A., Nagarajan, A., Mishra, A., Peddisetty, S., & Chahal, D. (2016). Effect of environmental factors on intelligence quotient of children. Industrial Psychiatry Journal , 25 (2), 189. doi: 10.4103/ipj.ipj_52_16
