Original articleEvidence of Infant Blood Pressure Programming by Maternal Nutrition during Pregnancy: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Intervention Study
Section snippets
Methods
The study population comprised pregnant women and their infants participating in an ongoing prospective, randomized mother-infant nutrition and probiotics study (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/gui/show/NCT00167700). A total of 256 pregnant women were recruited at visits to maternal welfare clinics in Turku, Finland early in pregnancy. The family history of cardiovascular diseases was assessed on the basis of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, myocardial infarction, or stroke in parents or
Results
The clinical characteristics of the women (Table I) and infants (Table II) were similar in the 3 study groups. All participants were Caucasian and in good health. The majority had a high educational level and gave birth after a normal pregnancy (Table I).
Discussion
Dietary factors affect blood pressure directly through intake of nutrients, including sodium and fat, as well as indirectly by means of weight gain.15, 16 The results of the present study extend this notion into fetal life through maternal nutrition. We noted the relevance of specific nutrients during pregnancy in the programming of infants’ blood pressure. Considering the possibility of programming blood pressure from childhood to adulthood,17, 18, 19, 20 our findings may suggest a novel
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Supported by grants from the Academy of Finland, the Social Insurance Institute of Finland, the Sigrid Juselius Foundation, and the Turku University Foundation (J.A.). The first draft of the manuscript was written by Jonna Aaltonen. Food products used in this study were provided by Raisio Group, Raisio, Finland; Bifidobacterium lactis was provided by C. Hansen, Hoersholm, Denmark; and Lactobacillus rhamnosus was provided by Valio Ltd, Helsinki, Finland.