Breastfed babies’ IQ is higher: study

SCIENTISTS have identified a gene which leads children to have higher IQs if they are breastfed, according to a study released Monday.

The study took a bite out of the nature versus nurture debate by showing that intellectual development is influenced by both environmental and genetic factors.

Unlike previous studies this research included socioeconomic status the mother’s IQ and other factors, which did not alter the results, according to co-author Terrie Moffitt, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at Duke University in North Carolina and King’s College in London.

Researchers examined more than 3,000 breastfed infants in Britain and New Zealand and found that the child’s IQ was an average of 6.8 points higher if the child had a particular version of a gene called FADS2.

The gene produces an enzyme found in breast milk which helps convert dietary fatty acids into the polyunsaturated fatty acids found to accumulate in the brain in a baby’s first month.

Of the children, 90% had at least one copy of the version of the gene if they were breastfed.