Maternal prenatal dietary potassium, calcium, magnesium, and infant blood pressure.

Abstract

We studied the association between the prenatal diets of 212 mothers assessed by a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire and the blood pressure of their infants. Prenatal potassium, calcium, and magnesium intakes were measured and adjusted for total caloric intake. Infant blood pressure was measured at 2-3 days and at 1, 6, and 12 months of age by using an ultrasonic-auscultatory device and was adjusted for cuff size, observer, and sleep/ activity status, age in days in neonates, and weight at 6 and 12 months. Maternal prenatal potassium intake was inversely related to diastolic pressure at 6 months (r=-0.28, /?<0.01) and at 12 months (r=-0.30, /?<0.05). After adjustment for neonatal breast versus formula feeding, maternal prenatal calcium intake was inversely related to systolic blood pressure at 1 month (r=-0.21,/?<0.01), and to diastolic blood pressure at 6 months (r=-0.27,/><0.01) and 12 months (r= -0.24, p<0.05). Maternal prenatal magnesium intake was inversely related to 6-month systolic blood pressure (r=-0.20, /?<0.05). In multivariable models with all three cations, maternal prenatal potassium intake was independently and inversely related to diastolic blood pressure at 6 and 12 months. Maternal prenatal calcium intake was independently related to 1-month systolic and 6-month diastolic blood pressure. Age-specific infant blood pressure differences between the upper and lower quartiles of maternal prenatal cation intakes ranged from 3 to 7 mm Hg. These results are consistent with adult studies and suggest that maternal prenatal intakes of potassium, calcium, and perhaps magnesium, influence infant blood pressure throughout the first year of life. (Hypertension 1991;17:218-224)

Modifiable Maternal Exposures and Offspring Blood Pressure: A Review of Epidemiological Studies of Maternal Age, Diet, and Smoking

“…Alternatively, effects of in utero programming by maternal behaviors may be more consistently detected at ages earlier than in childhood, such as in infants and neonates. Maternal smoking during pregnancy (58,59) and advanced maternal age (60) have both been associated with greater BP in neonates and there is some evidence that maternal calcium supplementation is associated with lower BP in infants (50,61,62). However, if such exposures are subsequently unrelated to later BP, they may have limited implications for adult cardiovascular risk.…”

Maternal Calcium Intake and Offspring Blood Pressure

“…One other observational study also found an inverse association between calcium intake during pregnancy and both systolic and diastolic blood pressures at 12 and 6 months of age. 7 In that study, however, it was not clear how much of the ingested calcium was from foods compared with supplements; the diet assessment was conducted postpartum; and the time referent for calcium intake was the entire pregnancy, not a specific trimester.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6] Two studies 7,8 have suggested that calcium intake during pregnancy is inversely associated with blood pressure in the offspring. This issue is important because, if confirmed, ensuring adequate calcium intake among pregnant women could be a way to prevent hypertension and its sequelae in the next generation.…”

“…This issue is important because, if confirmed, ensuring adequate calcium intake among pregnant women could be a way to prevent hypertension and its sequelae in the next generation. In one of these 2 studies, among 70 mother-infant pairs, McGarvey et al 7 reported correlation coefficients of Ϫ0.18 and Ϫ0.22 between maternal gestational calcium intake and systolic blood pressure at 6 and 12 months of age, respectively. More recently, Belizan et al 8 followed up 591 children 5 to 9 years of age whose mothers had taken part in a randomized controlled trial of calcium supplementation started at 20 weeks' gestation and stopped at delivery.…”

Blood pressure and urinary excretion of electrolytes in Spanish schoolchildren

“…Nonetheless, the weak relationship is of interest, as it is consistent with earlier findings in adult blacks. [24][25][26][27][28][29] McGarvey et al 30 found that maternal K intake during pregnancy correlated inversely with diastolic BP measured when their babies had reached the age of 6 and 12 months. A number of studies have reported an inverse relationship between BP and K intake during infancy and childhood.…”