Early weaning from breast-feeding appears to be one factor that predisposes adults to alcohol abuse and hospitalization for an alcohol-related diagnosis, according to data from Denmark.

Previous research demonstrated a link between short duration of breast-feeding and alcoholism in men. Dr. Holger J. Sorenson and colleagues at Copenhagen University and the US examined this relationship in a larger population sample that included women and took into account other environmental and familial factors.

The Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort includes 3245 men and 3317 women born between 1959 and 1961. Thirty-four percent of these participants had been breast-fed for no more than a month, according to the team’s report in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

After follow-up through 1999, the researchers found that 98 men and 40 women were hospitalized with an alcohol-related diagnosis. Of the 138 cases, 63 were weaned by 1 month and 75 were breast-fed for longer periods. The researchers calculate from these numbers that early weaning increased the likelihood of alcoholism by 65 percent.

The investigators report that other factors linked to an increased risk of alcoholism were “male gender, maternal prenatal smoking, unwanted pregnancy (at the time of conception), maternal psychiatric hospitalization for alcohol abuse, maternal psychiatric hospitalization with other diagnoses, and low parental social status when the child was 1 year old.”

However, after taking all these factors into account, there was still an increased likelihood of alcohol abuse associated with early weaning.

Sorenson’s group proposes several explanations for the link. For example, decreased physical and psychological contact between the mother and the infant may increase the risk of alcoholism. Another possibility is that a decreased intake of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids contained in breast milk could affect brain development.

SOURCE: American Journal of Psychiatry, April 2006.