Curvy Body, Newborns’ Brains and Breastfeeding
According to two recent reports in The Sunday Times and Daily Mail there is a good reason, from a human evolutionary perspective, why women may need fat and their curvy bodies.
In line with the work of Will Lassek, and his research team from the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, discussed in these reports, the ‘fat banks’ in female hips, thighs, and buttocks may provide the essential support for the development of newborns’ brains by means of breast-feeding.
Will Lassek, MD, a professor of epidemiology at the graduate school of public health at the University of Pittsburgh argues that as the babies’ brains triple in size during the first years of life, in women, 2/3 of fat is stored in hips and legs, a process accelerated during pregnancy and that the fat in these areas is a “depot for building a baby’s brain”.
According to the researcher “you need lots of fat to make a nervous system, and the fats in these areas are also enriched in DHA (docosahexaenoic acid)” which is an omega-3 fatty acid and a primary structural component of the human brain and cerebral cortex. Furthermore, Dr. Lassek believes that “women’s extra fat is lost during breast-feeding, when it is needed for their baby’s brain”.
William D. Lassek and Steven Gaulin also co-author the book Why Women Need Fat, discussing why, in some cases, fat might be important to health, why do many women get fat after childbirth, thus breaking the cultural myth that “all fat is bad for you.”
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Updates
In a 2018 Open access peer-reviewed chapter Touraj Shafai et al. provided evidence that
breastfeeding and an enriched environment resulted in accelerated developmental potentials in the first 1000 days last a life time.
Background: Magnetic imaging studies of infants, children and adolescents have provided significant evidence that the higher IQ in later life in breastfed infants is associated with larger brain size and higher degree of myelination of the white matter. Furthermore, observational studies of infants have provided clear evidence that breastfeeding and mother-baby sensory interaction result in significant cognitive and behavioral development of breastfed as compared to formula fed infants.
Large-scale longitudinal studies of infants’ development have shown clear and convincing evidence of higher intelligence in children who were breastfed during infancy, and that the higher IQ persists through adulthood.
A 2022 study by Gemma Sullivan et al. suggested that
the more breast milk premature babies are fed while in neonatal intensive care, the greater the level of brain development.
Thus, high versus low breast milk exposure in the weeks following preterm birth was associated with some imaging features that more closely resemble the cortical maturation of healthy infants born at full term and effects appear to be dose dependent.
A 2024 study by Vidya Rajagopalan, Eustace Hsu and Shan Luo demonstrated long-term relationships between breastfeeding duration in infancy and global brain measures and adiposity markers even at 9–10 years for the entire study population with
longer breastfeeding duration being associated with greater global brain measures, i.e., cortical, and subcortical gray matter (GM) volumes, total cortical surface area (SA),
and lower adiposity markers.
These results indicated that increases in breastfeeding duration may be associated with increases in long-term associations with global cortical and subcortical GM volumes and cortical SA and decreases in long-term associations with adiposity markers.
2025
A 2025 study by David Horner et al. published in PLOS Medicine utilized data from the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood 2010 cohort, which enrolled 700 mother–child pairs between 2008 and 2010 with 86% clinical follow-up at age 10.
Pregnancy dietary patterns, described as ‘Varied’ and ‘Western’ were derived from food frequency questionnaires and used to model quantitative metabolite scores via sparse partial least squares modelling of blood metabolome data.
The study’s results suggested that
the ‘Western’ dietary pattern during pregnancy was associated with lower cognitive scores at age 2.5 and decreased head circumference growth
suggesting potential adverse impacts on early neurodevelopment. Conversely, the ‘Varied’ dietary pattern was linked with a higher estimated IQ at age 10, with head circumference growth contributing to this positive outcome.
According to the authors, their findings highlight the critical role of maternal nutrition during pregnancy, and duration of breastfeeding, in promoting optimal neurodevelopmental outcomes. Moreover, they suggested that effective public health strategies should therefore focus on enhancing maternal dietary practices to support better cognitive and physical development in children.
A 2025 review by Aleksandra Purkiewicz et al. inspects the effects of breastfeeding on the development of the nervous and immune systems, its influence on cognitive development, and the impact of stress on lactation.
Figure 1. Regulation of lactation. Impact of cortisol on lactation.
The authors indicate that stress significantly affects lactation regulation, with elevated cortisol levels potentially disrupting hormonal balance. Also, the weaning process is often a difficult time for mother and child; thus, according to the authors, it should be introduced gradually to minimize stress, anxiety, and potential mood disturbances in the mother. Furthermore, the essential roles of oxytocin, sialic acid, and docosahexaenoic acid in infant brain development and cognitive functions are highlighted.
The authors discuss that
women who breastfeed are less likely to suffer from mental health problems and are at a lower risk of hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
Contemporary studies emphasize the importance of providing women with adequate emotional, practical, and educational support to fully benefit from breastfeeding. Furthermore, it is essential to adapt both home and workplace environments to support breastfeeding.
Importantly, many studies indicate the need for integrating support for breastfeeding mothers into health and social policies. Healthcare should include comprehensive support both before and after childbirth to equip women with the necessary tools to overcome lactation challenges. Additionally, the psychological and social support from partners, families, and employers may determine the long-term success of breastfeeding. Such an approach can not only influence children’s health but also improve the quality of life for mothers.
A 2025 study by Jonatan Ottino González et al. published in Pediatric Research provided evidence that
the breastfeeding duration was positively associated with cortical thickness, surface area, and fluid cognition and with greater cortical myelin
in four regions and increases by follow-up in 12 regions. Surface area mediated the breastfeeding-fluid cognition link.
Thus, the study offered new insights into the association between breastfeeding duration and neurocognitive outcomes during adolescence. According to the authors, their findings demonstrate that breastfeeding was associated with greater cortical thickness and surface area in a dose-dependent way and that these associations extended into early adolescence.
While breastfeeding duration alone had a limited effect on cortical myelin, results showed that cortical myelin changes over time were moderated by breastfeeding duration. As per the authors, their findings emphasize the importance of extending breastfeeding for optimal neurocognitive development.
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