November 6, 2007

The "Mother's Milk" of Literacy:
How Breastfeeding May Improve Literacy

Tom Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education

Research has long established strong, positive correlations among most IQ
tests and literacy (Gottfredson, 1997). This is based largely on the role
of reasoning, language, and knowledge common to both intelligence and
literacy tests.

Now recent research has revealed a relationship among breastfeeding and IQ
scores indicating that the average IQ scores of children whose mothers
possessed a particular gene, and who breastfed their children when they
were babies, was seven points higher than the children whose mothers also
had the special gene but did not breastfeed them when they were babies (BBC
News, 2007). Referring to the effects of IQ upon educational achievement,
according to the researchers, " Seven points difference is enough to put
the child in the top third of the class."

Given that a major factor in educational achievement is the acquisition and
development of literacy, and literacy and IQ are highly related, the new
research suggests that literacy itself may be affected by breastfeeding
amongst women who also possess the special gene. Genetic research indicates
that some 90 percent of women possess the special gene. For this reason,
Belinda Phipps, of the National Childbirth Trust in the United Kingdom,
said: "This shows for the majority of parents they can have a positive
effect on their babies IQ by breastfeeding."

Teach the Mothers and Reach The Children

The new research on genetics and breastfeeding of infants focuses attention
upon the importance of educating women. For many decades, nations have
emphasized the education and literacy development of boys and men. The
failure to focus resources on girls and women shows itself in the
international literacy statistics compiled by UNESCO. From 1980 to 1995,
the illiterate population of men fell from 327 to 318 million, while the
numbers of illiterate women grew from 551 to 565 million (Aksornkool,
2001).

However, research for UNESCO (Sticht & McDonald, 1990) illustrates the many
positive effects of girl’s and women’s education on children and their
educational development at various stages from before birth to the school
years:

Before Pregnancy
Better educated girls/women show higher economic productivity; better
personal health care; lower fertility rates; and hence they produce smaller
families. The latter, in turn, is related to the preschool cognitive
development of children and their subsequent achievement in school.

During Pregnancy and at Birth
Better educated women provide better pre-natal care; produce more full term
babies; provide better post-natal care and this results in babies with
fewer learning disabilities.

Before Going To School
Better educated women produce better children’s health care; better
cognitive, language, and pre-literacy development; and better preparation
for schoolwork.

During The School Years
Better educated women produce higher participation rates in schooling;
better management of homework; better advocacy for children’s education and
negotiation of school/child conflicts; and they produce children who achieve
higher levels of education and literacy.

All this, and the new evidence on genetics and breastfeeding of infants, 
suggests that we should pay special attention to the need for resources to
provide literacy educational opportunities to the millions of less literate
women who will bring the next generation of children into the world. We
should remember that, when we teach the mothers, we reach the children!

Poorly educated children are the source of adult functional illiteracy, and
functionally illiterate adults are the source of poorly educated children.
Perhaps through education based on a Multiple Life Cycles policy (Sticht,
2006),  in which children are guaranteed their right to educated parents,
the vicious intergenerational cycles of functional illiteracy can be
stopped at their sources.

References

Aksornkool, N. (2001). Literacy: A key to Empowering Women Farmers. Paris:
United National Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.

BBC NEWS (2007, November 6). Gene 'links breastfeeding to IQ': A single gene
influences whether breastfeeding improves a child's intelligence, say London
researchers.
Retrieved online on 11/06/07 at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/7075511.stm

Gottfredson, L. S. (1997). Why g Matters: The Complexity of Everyday Life.
Intelligence, 24, 79-132.
Sticht, T. (2006). Toward a Multiple Life Cycles Education Policy: Investing
in the Education of Adults to Improve the Educability of Children. Retrieved
online 12/06/06 at
http://www.nald.ca/library/research/sticht/06dec/06dec.pdf

Sticht, T. & McDonald, B. (1990). Teach the Mother and Reach the Child:
Literacy Across Generations. Geneva: UNESCO International Bureau of
Education.

Thomas G. Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education
2062 Valley View Blvd.
El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133
Email: tsticht at aznet.net