Key result
Lactation ≥6 months is linked to ~12% lower incident diabetes risk via favorable metabolomic changes.
Why the study?
Lactation is linked to improved long-term maternal cardiometabolic health, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear.
Does lactation duration ≥6 months improve maternal serum metabolomic profiles and reduce incident diabetes and CVD in parous Hispanic/Latino women?
Cohort (n=194)
Does lactation duration ≥6 months improve maternal serum metabolomic profiles and reduce incident diabetes and CVD in parous Hispanic/Latino women?
Longer lactation duration (≥6 months) is associated with a favorable maternal serum metabolomic profile, which may partly explain its protective effects against incident diabetes and CVD in Hispanic/Latino women.
Suggests metabolic pathway for lactation's cardiometabolic benefit; leaves open causality and requires mechanistic trials before practice change.
Introduction: Lactation has been associated with improved long-term cardiometabolic health in women, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Methods: We studied 194 parous women (mean age: 32.8 years) from the HCHS/SOL with singleton births and self-reported lactation information. A total of 694 serum metabolites were profiled a median of 3 years (IQR: 1-4) after delivery. Lactation duration was categorized as <6 months or ≥6 months. Lactation-related metabolites were identified by metabolome-wide association analyses with an Empirical Bayes method and adjusting for sociodemographic and reproductive factors (|fold change|>1.2 and FDR-adjusted p<0.05). We examined the correlations between selected metabolites and cardiometabolic traits. We further examined the prospective associations of selected metabolites with incident diabetes (without baseline diabetes, n=2,341) and CVD (without baseline CVD, n=2,968) over 12 years of follow-up among parous women in the HCHS/SOL. Results: In this study, 26 (13.4%) women reported no lactation for this birth, 100 (51.5%) lactated <6 months, and 68 (35.1%) lactated ≥6 months. Compared with <6 months (n=126), lactation for ≥6 months (n=68) was associated with 46 metabolites, including lower levels of 37 metabolites (e.g., amino acid derivatives [involved in energy balance and methylation process] and glycerophospholipids [key membrane and lipoprotein components linked to dyslipidemia]), and higher levels of 9 metabolites (e.g. certain plasmalogens [antioxidant phospholipids] and sulfated steroids [involved in hormonal and metabolic regulation]). Most lactation-increased metabolites were positively correlated with triglycerides and LDL cholesterol, while many lactation-decreased metabolites were positively correlated with HDL cholesterol. Furthermore, 17 metabolites (e.g., N-acetylvaline and 3,4-dihydroxybutyrate) that were higher in women with <6 months lactation, were associated with increased risk of incident diabetes or CVD (HRs per SD range:1.12-1.64, p<0.05); while 2 metabolites (pregnenolone sulfate and a plasmalogen), higher in women with ≥6 months lactation, were inversely associated with incident diabetes (HRs per SD: 0.88 and 0.90, p<0.05) ( Figure 1 ). Conclusion: Longer lactation duration was associated with a favorable maternal serum metabolomic profile 1-4 years after delivery, which may partly explain the protective effects of sustained lactation on diabetes and CVD risk among Hispanic/Latino women.
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Wang et al. (2026) conducted a cohort in Cardiometabolic Disease (n=194). Lactation ≥6 months vs. Lactation <6 months was evaluated on Incident diabetes (HR 0.88 and 0.90, p=<0.05). Lactation for ≥6 months was associated with a favorable metabolomic profile, with specific lactation-increased metabolites inversely associated with incident diabetes (HRs 0.88 and 0.90, p<0.05).
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