Researchers haven’t figured out why, but future studies on the relationship may lead to improvements in diabetes preventative care.

A recent research suggests healthy levels of a Hormone released during breastfeeding are linked with a reduced risk of diabetes in women, but researchers aren’t sure why this association exists and how the hormone may play a role in possibly preventing the disease.

For the study, published in October 2018 in the journal Diabetologia, researchers followed 8,615 women who were free of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer at the start of the study. After 22 years, they identified 699 new cases of type 2 diabetes. After adjusting for potentially confounding factors — including reproductive status, medication use, and lifestyle habits — the authors observed that women with the highest concentration of the hormone prolactin had about a 27 percent decreased risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared with those women with the lowest concentration of the hormone.

While the findings are too early to influence care, it’s well known that healthy levels of prolactin are important for optimal health. “If prolactin levels get lower or higher than the biological normal range, it is suggested to see the doctor to find out the underlying reason” and prescribe proper treatment to stabilize them, says Jun Li, PhD, study author and postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. Thyroid and pituitary disorders are among the conditions also linked to abnormal prolactin levels that may necessitate treatment.

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What Is Prolactin, the ‘Milk’ Hormone, and How Does It Work?

Prolactin is a hormone produced in the pituitary gland and nicknamed the “milk” hormone because it stimulates the production of breast milk, leading levels to increase during pregnancy. According to the Endocrine Society’s Hormone Health Network, prolactin also “regulates behavior, the immune system, metabolism, reproductive systems, and many different bodily fluids. This makes it a crucial hormone for overall health and well-being, for both men and women.”

Prolactin research published in July 2013 in the journal Diabetes Care suggested the hormone may stimulate release of the hormone insulin and lower the prevalence of diabetes. Insulin helps ferry glucose to the cells and muscles for energy, but in diabetes, this process is disrupted either due to genetic, lifestyle, or environmental factors, or a combination of these things, leading to high blood sugar (hyperglycemia)and increasing the risk of conditions such as nerve damage (neuropathy), heart disease, blindness, and kidney damage.

Research thus far has not confirmed how prolactin and diabetes risk are related, but the hormone also appears to play a role in the risk for other diseases. Too much prolactin, for example, is associated with a higher risk of breast cancer, according to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Dr. Li says high levels of prolactin are also linked with pituitary disorders, prolactinomas (pituitary tumors), hypothyroidism(when the body lacks sufficient thyroid hormone), and some liver, kidney, ovary diseases.

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Beyond Breastfeeding: Other Factors That May Influence Levels of Prolactin

The circulating level of prolactin significantly increases in women during pregnancy and varies physiologically in response to lactation, level of exercise (depending on the time period and intensity), sleep, menstrual cycle, and stress.

“It is not entirely clear whether certain patterns of lifestyles will promote the healthy levels of prolactin. Nevertheless, regular physical activity and good sleep, and not too much stress, are always good for homeostasis and health,” Li says.

Tomer Singer, MD, director of reproductive endocrinology at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, who was not involved in the study, adds that certain hormone treatments and psychiatric drugs may alter prolactin levels.

As mentioned, the current study adjusted for these confounding factors, along with factors such as diagnoses of hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism (when too much thyroid hormone is produced), thyroid hormone use, and body mass index (BMI), which similarly may have impacted the women’s prolactin levels.

What We Still Don’t Know About the Link Between Prolactin and Type 2 Diabetes

One limitation is the investigation involved mostly white middle-age women, so the results cannot be generalized to men or to people of other age groups or ethnicities.

Study authors suggest that future research is needed to understand the biological mechanisms underlying the link between prolactin and type 2 diabetes risk.

“This may lead to the development of new strategies for early prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes,” Li and her colleagues wrote in their paper.

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