health: how long should a mother exclusively breastfeed an infant?

In 2001, the World Health Organization announced for the consideration of member states its global recommendation that infants should be exclusively breast fed for six months. Many Western countries, including 65% of European member states and the United States, elected not to follow this recommendation fully, or at all. However, in 2003 the health minister announced that the United Kingdom would comply. Substantial evidence indicates that early nutrition has profound implications for long term health, by programming aspects of subsequent cognitive function, obesity, risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and atopy. However, the evidence base supporting a major, population-wide change in public health policy underwent surprisingly little scrutiny. Indeed, the Department of Health’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) was not asked to formally consider the scientific evidence. A reappraisal of the evidence is timely in view of new data and a recent expert review for the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), concluding that for infants across the EU complementary foods may be introduced safely between four and six months.