Breast-feeding and cardiovascular risk factors and outcomes in later life: evidence from epidemiological studies

Abstract

This paper considers the body of observational evidence examining the association of being breast-fed to cardiovascular risk factors and outcomes in later life, and whether any potentially advantageous findings are causal. Early cardiovascular consequences/correlates of breastfeeding, compared to being formula fed, include markedly higher levels of total blood cholesterol, lower levels of pre-prandial blood glucose and insulin and lower levels of adiposity. However, a key issue is whether these early differences at a period of rapid development programme/influence cardiovascular risk factors and outcomes in later life. Evidence of longterm effects of early feeding, largely from observational studies, has shown that those breastfed have lower levels of blood total cholesterol, lower risk of type-2 diabetes and marginally lower levels of adiposity and blood pressure in adult life. There is no strong evidence to suggest effects of early feeding on adult levels of blood glucose, blood insulin and CHD outcomes, although further data are needed. However, the influence of confounding factors, such as maternal body size, maternal smoking and socio-demographic factors, and exclusivity of early feeding on these potentially beneficial associations needs to be considered before inferring any causal effects. Moreover, fewer studies have examined whether duration of exclusive breastfeeding has a graded influence on these risk factors and outcomes; such data would help further in deciding upon causal associations. While strong observational evidence suggests nutritional programming of adult cholesterol levels, associations with other markers of cardiometabolic risk and their consequences in later life need to be confirmed in well-conducted observational and experimental studies.

Vitamin D status and cardiometabolic assessment in infancy

“…This reassuring finding is consistent with previous data linking exclusive breastfeeding with better cardiometabolic function in adult life (18). Of note, although the sample size in the current study was modest (n = 99), it is unlikely that the absence of differences in risk factors between vitamin D groups was due to insufficient statistical power for three reasons.…”

Breastfeeding Duration Is Associated With Child Diet at 6 Years

“…Many of these studies have not considered, or considered only limited aspects of, dietary intake in analyses, and residual confounding is often given as a reason for discrepancies in results. 26,27 Our results indicate that child diet may be influenced by breastfeeding duration and thus may serve as an important confounder or mediator in the relationship between breastfeeding and chronic health outcomes in childhood that should be considered in future studies.…”

Prevalência e fatores associados ao excesso de peso em universitários do município de Rio Branco, Acre – Brasil

“…However, lifestyle changes such as a reduction in physical activity levels and an increase in the time spent in sedentary behaviors, in the consumption of simple carbohydrates, high-fat foods and soft drinks and in food portion size explain the increasing number of overweight adults 2 . Overweight is associated with different chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, dyslipidemia, metabolic syndrome, osteoarthritis, insulin resistance 3 , psychosocial problems (stress, depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem), decreased academic and professional performance, and low overall quality of life 4 . In view of the associated health problems and the low success rate of treatment of this important condition, as well as the health expenditures with hospitalizations, medications and surgeries, overweight is now a leading public health problem.…”