BRITAIN: Breast-fed babies grow up to have lower blood pressure than bottle-fed children, British researchers reported yesterday.
This could mean they will have lower blood pressure as adults, and thus a lower risk of heart disease, the leading killer in the industrialised world, the researchers said.
For every three months a child was breast fed, his or her systolic blood pressure reading - the top number - went down 0.2 points, on average. Breast-feeding time did not significantly affect diastolic blood pressure - the lower number.
"Even this small reduction may have important population-health implications," said Richard Martin, a senior lecturer in epidemiology and public health at the University of Bristol, who led the study.
"A 1 per cent reduction in population systolic blood pressure levels is associated with about a 1.5 per cent reduction in all-cause mortality," Dr Martin added, equivalent to a reduction in premature death of about 8,000 deaths per year in the US and 2,000 deaths per year in the UK.
Lower blood pressure is directly linked to lower risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney disease and other related illnesses.
The research appeared in the journal Circulation. - (Reuters)