Oct 30, 2011

Breastfeeding Tied to Lower Blood Pressure Risk

Mothers who breastfeed for at least six months may have a somewhat lower risk of developing high blood pressure later on, new research suggests.

For the new study, researchers looked at the correlation between breastfeeding and later risk of hypertension among close to 56,000 U.S. mothers taking part in the long-running Nurses’ Health Study II.

Over an average follow-up of 14 years, nearly 8,900 women were eventually diagnosed with hypertension. But the risk was 22% higher for women who did not breastfeed their first child, versus women who’d exclusively breastfed for six months.

Similarly, women who’d either never breastfed or done so for three months or less were almost one-quarter more likely to develop high blood pressure than women who’d breastfed for at least a year.

Those were the findings after adjustment for other risk factors such as diet, exercise and smoking habits, according to an online report October 12 in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Co-author Dr. Alison M. Stuebe, of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, says it’s possible that some other factor both hindered women from breastfeeding and contributed to their high blood pressure.

On the other hand, it’s plausible that breastfeeding has direct benefits, she said. Animal research has found that oxytocin, which is involved in breastfeeding, has lasting effects on blood pressure.

It’s also known that women tend to have a short-term blood pressure decrease immediately after breastfeeding, Dr. Stuebe noted.

Her team estimates that if breastfeeding is in fact protective, 12% of high blood pressure cases among women with children could be linked to “suboptimal” breastfeeding.

But, Dr. Stuebe said, “the point here is not to exhort women to try harder.”

“If this is a causal relationship,” she said, “then taking away barriers to breastfeeding could make a difference in women’s health later on.”

One way to help more mothers breastfeed successfully would be to get them off to a good start at the hospital, according to Dr. Stuebe. The World Health Organization encourages hospitals to take certain “baby-friendly” steps that have been shown to aid breastfeeding — like not feeding newborns anything other than breast milk, avoiding pacifiers and allowing mom and baby to be together 24 hours a day.

But Dr. Stuebe pointed to a 2008 study of 1,900 U.S. mothers that found only 8% experienced all six recommended baby-friendly practices at their maternity hospital.

She also suggested some other steps breastfeeding advocates have long called for, including better access to lactation counseling, which is often not covered by insurance; break time at work so women can pump breast milk, and paid maternity leave.

Right now, the U.S. requires employers with 50 or more workers to offer 12 weeks of non-paid maternity leave.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/s7LTI3

Am J Epidemiol 2011.

— Amy Norton

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