Response to Children's Home Blood Pressure and Growth Environment

Abstract

We thank Dr Hosaka et al1 for sharing their observation that breastfeeding is associated with blood pressure (BP) when measured at home, but not when measured at the survey center. We specifically studied the n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in human milk and formula feeding because this may be the underlying mechanism for the association between breastfeeding and BP. Children who received human milk with an n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids content above the median (ie, 0.51 weight percentage) had a 4.79-mm Hg lower systolic (95% confidence interval, −7.64 to −1.94) and a 2.47-mm Hg lower diastolic (95% confidence interval, −4.45 to −0.49) BP at the age of 12 years than never-breastfed children.2 In addition, we conducted analyses on BP with breastfeeding as the main determinant. The mean systolic BP of children who were ever breastfed (114.4 mm Hg; SD, 9.1) was 2.17 …