Boobs and Brains

Emily Bazelon of Slate has the story on IQ and breast feeding - does breast feeding really boost brainpower? The answer, taken at face value, is a bit odd. It seems that it may, if the kid has the right genes.

Now there's new evidence about the gold ring of breast-feeding benefits—extra IQ points. It's a finding with a twist. The researchers report that breast-fed babies get an average IQ advantage of 6.8 points—a nice step up—but only if they carry a certain genetic variant. If you've got the gene and your mother nurses you, she is making you smarter. If you don't have the gene, the nursing is for naught, IQ-wise. What are we to make of this?

Practically speaking, probably nothing. A series of caveats apply. This is only one study, and there are lots of other reasons to breastfeed (or not to). Plus, 90 percent of the population has the genetic variant that conveys the IQ boost, so the odds are in the suckler's favor. But as food for thought, this study has all kinds of goodies. It's a pretty riveting example of a dynamic that scientists call "G × E," for genes times environment—the notion that it's not nature or nurture that exclusively makes people who they are, but nature interacting with nurture


When our kids were small, the magic bullet was for allergies. Since my wife and I are both bedeviled with allergies and asthma, we decided that our second son would get nothing but breast milk until he was one. At four months, though, he started grabbing food out of Mom's hand and stuffing it in his mouth. He's always been a bit too quick for his parents.

The article, and the G x E effect, are worth a look.

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