New research suggests that breastfed babies may grow up to have
lower blood pressure later in life than babies fed infant formula.
The
findings may be significant, since high blood pressure is often an
indication of heart disease risk, and even a small decrease in blood
pressure can help reduce the risk of heart disease, heart attack and
stroke.
Researchers from the Institute of Child Health in London collected data
on 926 premature babies in the United Kingdom several years ago. The
babies were divided into three groups - one group received donated breastmilk, another received formula designed for pre-term babies and
the third group received formula designed for full-term babies.
Years later, the researchers measured the blood pressure of 216 of the
children from the trials (who were then 13 to 16 years old), and they
made two comparisons: the difference between breastmilk and pre-term
formula, and the difference between pre-term formula and full-term
formula.
The researchers found that the diastolic blood pressure reading was 3.2
points lower in the teens given breastmilk than those given pre-term
formula, and the systolic reading was 2.7 points lower in the breastmilk
group. No difference in blood pressure was found between the two formula
groups.
"Breastmilk consumption was associated with lower later blood
pressure in children born prematurely," the researchers wrote in
their report published in the medical journal, The
Lancet (2001; 357: 413-419). "Our data provide experimental
evidence of programming of a cardiovascular risk factor by early diet
and further support the long-term beneficial effects of breastmilk."
In an editorial in the same issue of The Lancet, Dr. Susan B. Roberts of
Tufts University warns that the study only looked at pre-term infants,
therefore the extent to which the results are relevant to full-term
babies is not known, and she calls for very-long-term follow-up studies.
Source: The Lancet 2001;
357:413-419
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