  urlLink BBC NEWS | Health | Breast-feeding 'cuts heart risk' : "Professor Alan Lucas, director of the Medical Research Council's Childhood Nutrition Research Centre, said: 'The evidence is very strong and supports a clear message.
'Slower growth as a baby reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke in adult life, and the best way to achieve this is to breast-feed.
' Belinda Phipps, chief executive of the National Childbirth Trust, said: 'We know that breast-fed babies are less likely to be overweight and have less chance of developing diabetes in childhood for example but this research also suggests that breastfeeding can have a major beneficial effect on health in later life too. 'Conversely, formula milk has been linked with a higher incidence of respiratory disease, high blood pressure, ear and urinary tract infections, diarrhoea and gastroenteritis. ' A recent survey of 1,000 women by the Department of Health found that although the benefits of breast-feeding are well known, the UK has one of the lowest breast-feeding rates in Europe.
Almost a third of women in England and Wales never try to breast-feed, compared to 2% in Sweden. The research comes as the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) warned efforts to increase breast-feeding rates were being hampered by formula milk companies promoting 'misleading' claims. It said many companies promoted milk substitutes by saying they could make babies more intelligent or were very similar to breast milk. " 
