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  • Original Article
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Maternal and pediatric nutrition

Influence of breastfeeding on retinal vessel calibers in school-age children. The Generation R Study

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 70, pages 72–77 (2016)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

A shorter breastfeeding duration is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in adulthood. Early microvasculature structure adaptations may be part of the underlying mechanism. We examined the associations of ever breastfeeding, breastfeeding duration and exclusivity, and the timing of introduction of solid foods with retinal vessel calibers in children.

Subjects/Methods:

We performed a population-based prospective cohort study from fetal life onwards in the city of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. We obtained information on ever breastfeeding, breastfeeding duration and exclusivity, and age at introduction of solid foods from postal questionnaires at the ages of 2, 6 and 12 months after birth. At the median age of 6.0 years (90% range: 5.7–6.8), we measured retinal arteriolar and venular calibers from digitized retinal photographs among 3220 children. Grader-specific s.d. scores (SDS) for both central retinal and arteriolar equivalents were constructed.

Results:

We observed that in the models only adjusted for child’s age, sex and ethnicity, children who were never breastfed had narrower retinal arteriolar and venular calibers in childhood as compared with children who were breastfed (differences in retinal arteriolar and venular calibers, respectively: −0.16 SDS (95% confidence interval (CI): −0.29, −0.03) and −0.18 SDS (95% CI: −0.32, −0.04)). After additional adjustment for maternal and childhood socio-demographic and lifestyle-related characteristics, never breastfeeding was only associated with narrower retinal venular caliber (difference: −0.15 SDS (95% CI: −0.29, −0.02)). We did not observe associations of breastfeeding duration or exclusivity, or age at introduction of solid foods with retinal vessel calibers.

Conclusions:

Children who were never breastfed tended to have narrower retinal venular calibers. We did not observe associations of breastfeeding duration with retinal vessel calibers. Family-based socio-demographic factors, maternal lifestyle-related factors and childhood factors only slightly influenced the observed associations. These results should be considered a hypothesis generating for further observational and experimental studies.

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Acknowledgements

The Generation R Study is conducted by the Erasmus Medical Center in close collaboration with the School of Law and Faculty of Social Sciences of the Erasmus University Rotterdam; the Municipal Health Service Rotterdam area, Rotterdam; the Rotterdam Homecare Foundation, Rotterdam; and the Stichting Trombosedienst and Artsenlaboratorium Rijnmond (STAR), Rotterdam. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of participating mothers, general practitioners, hospitals, midwives and pharmacies in Rotterdam. We received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013), project EarlyNutrition under grant agreement number 289346. VJ received an additional grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO-VIDI 016.136.361). MKI received additional funding from the Singapore Ministry of Health’s National Medical Research Council (NMRC/CSA/038/2013) and the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMW; VENI project number: 91612163). LD received additional funding from the Lung Foundation Netherlands (number 3.2.12.089; 2012). OHF works in ErasmusAGE, a center for aging research across the life course funded by Nestlé Nutrition (Nestec Ltd), Metagenics Inc. and AXA.

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These sponsors had no role in the design and conduct of the study, analysis and interpretation of the data, and preparation, review or approval of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Generation R Study Group, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    O Gishti, V W V Jaddoe & R Gaillard

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    O Gishti, V W V Jaddoe, L Duijts & R Gaillard

  3. Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    O Gishti, V W V Jaddoe, L Duijts, O H Franco, A Hofman & R Gaillard

  4. Singapore Eye Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore

    M K Ikram

  5. Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, National University of Singapore, Singapore

    M K Ikram

  6. Memory Aging and Cognition Centre (MACC), National University of Health System, Singapore

    M K Ikram

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  1. O Gishti
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Correspondence to V W V Jaddoe.

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Gishti, O., Jaddoe, V., Duijts, L. et al. Influence of breastfeeding on retinal vessel calibers in school-age children. The Generation R Study. Eur J Clin Nutr 70, 72–77 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2015.113

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