Machado, VanessaRegalo, Simone Cecílio HallakFerreira, Luciano Maia AlvesMartinelli, Roberta Lopes de CastroTrawitzki, Luciana Vitaliano VoiSiéssere, SelmaMendes, José JoãoBotelho, João2026-04-282026-04-282025-12Machado V, Regalo SCH, Ferreira LMA, Martinelli RLdC, Trawitzki LVV, Siéssere S, Mendes JJ, Botelho J. Breastfeeding as a Strategic Driver for One Health: A Narrative Review. Nutrients. 2025; 17(23):3766. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu172337662072-6643http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/62931Breastfeeding is a renewable biological system that simultaneously advances human, environmental, and societal health. Human milk provides unparalleled nutrition and immunological protection, improving infant survival, neurodevelopment, and long-term metabolic outcomes, while reducing maternal risk of breast and ovarian cancer. However, and despite decades of evidence, only 48% of infants under six months are exclusively breastfed worldwide, and breastfeeding remains absent from most sustainability and One Health strategies. This narrative review synthesizes evidence demonstrating that breastfeeding functions as a low-carbon, zero-waste food system that avoids greenhouse gas emissions, land conversion, water consumption, and biodiversity loss linked to commercial milk formula production. At the societal level, breastfeeding reduces health-system costs, strengthens emergency resilience when supply chains fail, and generates long-term economic returns. By integrating evidence across human health, environmental impact and social determinants, this review positions breastfeeding as a strategic One Health intervention and a high-value investment for achieving multiple Sustainable Development Goals. Strengthening policy support—including protection against formula marketing, workplace accommodations, and expansion of baby-friendly systems—is essential to unlock breastfeeding’s potential for planetary and public health.engbreastfeedingOne Healthhuman healthenvironmental healthanimal heatheconomicsocialcontribution to journal10.3390/nu17233766