Malnourished Children at Greater Risk of Blood Pressure Issues as Adults

New research from the American Heart Association found that children who experience severe malnutrition may be at an increased risk for high blood pressure as adults. Inadequate nutrition before birth and up to age 5 may even result in disruption of the heart's development, according to findings published in the journal Hypertension.

"If nutritional needs are not met during this time, when structures of the body are highly susceptible to potentially irreversible change, it could have long-term consequences on heart anatomy and blood flow later in life," said Terrence Forrester, Ph.D., study senior author and chief scientist, UWI Solutions for Developing Countries, at the University of the West Indies, Mona, in Kingston, Jamaica, in a news release. "We are concerned that millions of people globally who suffer malnutrition before or after birth are at increased risk of hypertension in later life."

For the study, researchers compared 116 adults who endured malnutrition growing up in Jamaica to 45 men and women who were adequately fed as children. All men and women had their height weight and blood pressure levels measured, and also underwent echocardiograms or imaging tests to better evaluate heart function. Most of the participants were in their 20s and 30s.

For many who suffered from malnourishment as children, study findings revealed that they typically had higher diastolic blood pressure readings, higher peripheral resistance and the heart was less effective at pumping blood. All of these factors can dramatically increase the risk of heart disease and/or stroke, according to researchers.

As an estimated 8.3 million children lived in food-insecure households in 2012, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, many might not have enough money to properly provide for all family members. Numerous developing countries also deal with residents suffering from severe malnutrition.

Researchers said they believe the key to preventing and managing these risks for high blood pressure is to first address the problem of malnutrition, comprehensively.

"Such an investment in nutrition and general health will have huge public health dividends, including these longer-term risks of chronic heart and metabolic diseases that cost so much in human lives," he concluded. 

The New Zealand Health Research Council funded the study.