You may have heard in the news that the more you breastfeed a baby, the more successful and intelligent they end up being. As you might imagine, this was like catnip for today’s papers. Breastfeeding and intelligence; two things that people invariably have strong views on, clearly linked and proven by science. What’s not to like?

Well if you’re a science writer/psychologist/science communicator/expectant mother, there’s quite a lot not to like. So before anyone burns down a baby formula warehouse in order to ensure a future society of super-geniuses, here’s a run-down of the research and what it potentially means.

The positives

To be fair, the research itself is admirable. It’s a well-designed study which tries to take into account as many variable and confounding factors that could distort the results as possible (you can judge this for yourself thanks to the glory of Open Access). When it comes to the health benefits of breastfeeding, there are many likely confounding variables, meaning other factors and occurrences that aren’t being measured but could be causing the results (this is a persistent issue with studies of this nature) but the researchers made an admirable effort to rule these out and argue that the pattern observed, where those who were breastfed longer scored better on IQ tests and earned more money on average, could be due to the composition of breast milk.

There is some evidence to show that breast milk is richer in the long-chain saturated fatty acids that are integral to brain development, and there’s the weird trend of tall people being more intelligent on average, suggesting a link between developmental resources and brain development underlying intellect (tall people need more nutrients to get so big after all).

But there are still many issues that need to be considered before concluding that breast feeding makes your child smarter.

So many variables

The coverage of the story thus far invariably emphasises the “health benefits” of breastfeeding, but these are more regularly linked to social class and income, which could explain the health benefits, and analyses where the effect of social class is reduced as much as possible reveal that the “established” benefits of breast feeding are suddenly much reduced. The study in question was conducted in Brazil where there was seemingly no correlation between social class and breastfeeding tendencies (unlike more developed countries like the UK), but even this isn’t as simple as it seems. Brazil and the UK differ greatly, both in culture and economy, so direct comparisons should be approached cautiously.

There is also the fact that the time between breastfeeding and IQ and wealth assessment was thirty years. Three whole decades. That’s a lot of time for things to happen that affect an individual’s standing in society. Obviously, that’s the point of the study; to see if the effects of breastfeeding last long-term, and if the only thing that linked all these successful types was that they were breastfed longer then yes, that would be a remarkable finding. There are still plenty of other things that could be causing the pattern though, although it would be a huge ask to insist that a study of this size rules out every possible alternative. That’s the downside of studies into subjects like this; large groups of humans are mind-bogglingly complicated and persistently thwart our nice clean scientific methods.

IQ = inherently questionable?

Despite the fact that many headlines have highlighted this aspect, the study and the reports about it don’t really focus on exactly how intelligence was determined beyond a quick reference to using the Weschler Adult Intelligence scale to determine IQ.

This may be a logical and common method, but it glosses over the ongoing and complex controversy of the validity of IQ tests and study of intelligence in general. IQ tests are also reported as being better indicators of social background, confidence, cultural biases and so on. Measuring intellect via IQ is a very problematic issue, the Guinness book of world records retired the “Most intelligent person” title in 1990 as a result of this. Intelligence is an increasingly difficult thing to measure accurately, and IQ tests are persistently questioned as to what they’re actually showing. So the claim that breastfeeding is linked with increased intelligence is perhaps overstating things. It would be fairer to say “breastfeeding is linked to higher scores on a test that everyone is doing better at overall anyway”, but that’s less “catchy”.

Breastfeeding is complicated enough already

As stated, there are many potential confounding variables, alternative explanations, influential factors and further analyses that need to be looked into before we can definitely say breastfeeding leads to greater intelligence and success. The downside of this is, that is very unlikely to stop many people from just going with it anyway. It’s likely that this coverage will end up being used to put more unreasonable pressure on pregnant women and new mothers.

There is a lot of stigma and controversy around breastfeeding. Campaigns against corporations pushing formula on people are one thing, but it often crosses the line into alarmingly aggressive ideological purity, echoing the whole “natural is always better” claim. Breastfeeding is not like plugging in a phone charger for most people, it’s a difficult and demanding process. Maybe some new mothers do put their own discomfort before their baby’s wellbeing and choose formula because it’s “easier”, but what about those who can’t breastfeed due to health reasons? Or because they’ve got no money and have to go back to work as soon as possible, leaving their baby with carers? There are so many instances where opting for formula over breastfeeding is the sign of a good mother, but a lot of people cannot or will not see it that way.

My own wife had a consultation with an assigned breastfeeding expert when our own son was born. This woman was helpful but her opinion on mothers who use formula was not. She quite angrily said it was awful that people were “the only creature who won’t feed our young”. Despite this being wrong, it was also shockingly judgemental; mothers who don’t breastfeed are essentially lower than vermin (animals that do feed their young).

What if my wife was then unable to breastfeed? The local health authorities had basically told her she was worse than a rat already, so what else would happen if she needed more help? It’s alarming to think how many other women in similar situations receive similar attitudes from those tasked with helping them, being told that breastfeeding is the only acceptable way to do things. Even more so now, as you want your child to be smart don’t you? So you must breastfeed.

Unless you’re outside of course, in which case it’s filthy and unnatural. Because heaven forbid vulnerable women aren’t beholden to impossibly high yet contradictory societal standards at all times.

The overall thrust of this is that the research may have noble aims, interesting results and good intentions, but you can easily see how it would be spun out into more ways to fuel personal views and ideals. So at least bear that in mind when you see the coverage of it. Breastfed or not, you can still approach things from a more intellectual perspective.

Dean Burnett admits he had existing bugbears about both breastfeeding and IQ tests, so basically had to write this piece. He’s on Twitter, @garwboy