25 March 2008
Lagos — Children who were breastfed as infants had 0.8 millimeter of mercury (mm Hg) lower systolic blood pressure at age 7 than did children who were bottle-fed. The findings are consistent with another study that found that breastfeeding is associated with a reduced risk of coronary disease death. However, other studies failed to show a consistent link between breastfeeding and specific coronary risk factors, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure.
Lower blood pressure is a potential explanation for the reduced coronary mortality risk. However, the long-term implications of the breastfeeding-blood pressure link are still to be determined. There is some weak evidence that there is a small lowering of blood pressure in adulthood (among children who were breastfed), but the evidence is inconsistent. The children averaged 7.5 years old at the time of the study.
In an overall analysis, children who were breastfed for any length of time had lower blood pressure than did formula-fed children. The association between breastfeeding and blood pressure was not affected by a child's gender, body mass, or pulse. Moreover, family social status, income, number of siblings, maternal alcohol consumption, the child's health, and the child's ethnicity did not change the association between breastfeeding and blood pressure.
The modest beneficial effect of breastfeeding on blood pressure was similar regardless of whether the child had partial or exclusive breastfeeding up to two months old. However, the blood pressure effect was greatest among children who had been breastfed for at least six months. Breastfeeding time didn't significantly affect diastolic blood pressure.
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