Blood Pressure Is Lower in Children and Adolescents With a Low-Saturated-Fat Diet Since Infancy

Abstract

Blood pressure was measured in the prospective randomized Special Turku Coronary Risk Factor Intervention Project Study with an oscillometric method every year from 7 months to 15 years of age in 540 children receiving a low-saturated-fat, low-cholesterol diet and in 522 control children. Dietary intakes, family history of parental hypertension, and grandparental vascular disease were recorded. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures were 1.0 mm Hg lower (95% CI for systolic: -1.7 to -0.2 mm Hg; 95% CI for diastolic: -1.5 to -0.4 mm Hg) in children receiving low-saturated-fat counseling through childhood than in control children. Intakes of saturated fat were lower (P<0.001), those of polyunsaturated fat higher (P<0.001), and intakes of potassium slightly higher (P=0.002) in the intervention group, but sodium intakes were not influenced by the intervention (P=0.76). Children whose parents were hypertensive had 4- to 6-mm Hg higher systolic and 3- to 4-mm Hg higher diastolic blood pressures than children of normotensive parents (P<0.001). Diastolic blood pressure of children with grandparental vascular disease, ie, early cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease, tended to be higher than that of children with no grandparental disease (P=0.051). We conclude that restriction of saturated fat from infancy until 15 years of age decreases childhood and adolescent blood pressure with a meaningful population-attributable amount. The importance of childhood lifestyle counseling and primary prevention of hypertension should be emphasized, especially in those children with a family history of hypertension or atherosclerotic vascular disease.

2016 European Society of Hypertension guidelines for the management of high blood pressure in children and adolescents

“…Consumption of >1 servings of dairy products/day and >2 servings of fruits and vegetables/day throughout adolescence has shown to lead to about a 35% lower risk of elevated BP (202). Likewise, saturated fat-reduced diet since infancy decreases BP (203). Higher sugar sweetened beverage consumption is associated with higher SBP in adolescents (204).…”

The effect of dairy consumption on blood pressure in mid-childhood: CAPS cohort study

“…Salt restriction during the first year of life was found to have a significant protective effect on the BP rise in childhood, 36 as did a low saturated fat diet from age 13 months to 15 years. 37 These studies suggest that nutrition during early childhood may have a central role in the programming of future BP. Whether tracking of dietary intake from early childhood has a role is unclear, but our study found little evidence of tracking from age 18 months to mid-childhood.…”

Distensibility of the Aorta and Carotid Artery and Left Ventricular Mass From Childhood to Early Adulthood

“…29 Furthermore, we recently reported that the dietary counseling associated with better ideal cardiovascular health score, a cluster of health metrics defined by American Heart Association, which for one was favorably associated with aortic distensibility. 11 In this analysis, however, the effect of dietary counseling was not reflected on arterial distensibility.…”