A new Czech study has added to the mounting evidence that infants who are breast fed are less likely than those on formula to become obese children.

The researchers, reporting in The Journal of Pediatrics, said that in their study of 33,000 young children, only 9.3 percent of those who had been breast fed were obese compared to 12.4 percent of those who were not breast fed.

"The effect of breast-feeding on overweight/obesity did not diminish with age in children 6 to 14 years old and could not be explained by parental education, parental obesity, maternal smoking, high birth weight, watching television, number of siblings, and physical activity," the researchers reported.

Dr. Matthew W. Gillman of Harvard Medical School, in an editorial in the same issue of the journal, noted that several recent studies have now suggested a protective effect of having been breast-fed on later obesity.

"Clinicians and policy makers should not ignore the growing consistency of evidence that having been breast-fed may lower one's risk of excess weight gain later in life," Gillman wrote. "We are also in the felicitous situation that for many other reasons, breast-feeding is the clear best choice for almost all mothers and infants. Thus it makes sense to add potential obesity prevention to the list of breast-feeding's benefits."

Other sources: Journal of Pediatrics