BREASTFEEDING LINKED TO LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE

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BREASTFEEDING LINKED TO LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE
18 April 2007 - University of Bristol

Doctors at the University of Bristol have reported that the benefits of breastfeeding could pay off many years later by helping to reduce levels of blood pressure, a factor that contributes to heart attacks in later life.

A new study of seven-year-old children has shown a difference in their blood pressure according to whether they were breast-fed or bottle-fed as babies. These results suggest that lower blood pressure could be added to the list of known benefits of breastfeeding.

This latest report is based on data collected by the Children of the 90s project, also known as the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, based at the University of Bristol. The study is published in ‘Circulation’, the journal of the American Heart Association.

Researchers measured the blood pressure of 4,763 children. On average the children who had been breastfed beyond the age of two months (34 per cent) had about one millimeter of mercury (mm Hg) lower blood pressure at age seven than did children who had been brought up exclusively on formula milk.

The longer a child was breastfed, the greater the difference. Previous research suggests that the benefits could be even more pronounced later in their lives.

Dr Richard Martin from the University of Bristol’s Department of Social Medicine says that although the difference found was quite small, this could still have important public health implications for the adult population. It has been calculated that a one per cent reduction in blood pressure across the population could reduce the mortality rate by 1.5 per cent.

http://www.bris.ac.uk

About: University of Bristol
The University College of Bristol opened in 1876, after six years of discussions and controversy, in a bid to bring university culture to the provinces. It was the first college in the country to admit men and women on an equal footing.

The University’s Research and Enterprise Development (RED) division was launched in 2000 to stimulate and support an entrepreneurial culture and encourage the growth of technology-based business.

2003 saw the completion of the Dorothy Hodgkin building, named after the University’s fifth Chancellor. The £18 million building is dedicated to research in neuroendocrinology. 2003 also saw the opening of the University’s £5 million Centre for Sport, Exercise and Health.

Work on a new, state-of-the-art engineering building is due to be completed in early 2004. The £20 million BLADE project (Bristol Laboratory for Advanced Dynamics Engineering) will bring together the Engineering Faculty’s six departments to establish Europe’s most advanced dynamics engineering research facilities.

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