Breastfeeding has multiple benefits for both the baby and the mother, and every day We continue to discover more reasons to promote it and continue it as long as possible, as a recent study in which it was found that breastfeeding is related to a lower risk of diabetes for mothers.
A new study found another benefit for mothers, as they discovered that the longer and more children breastfeed, there is a lower risk of the mother suffering from hypertension after menopause.
What is hypertension and what is its relationship with menopause?
Before continuing with the study, I will explain what is the relationship between hypertension and menopause, which was the main research they focused on during the same. Hypertension, which is also known as high or high blood pressure, is a disorder in which the blood vessels have persistently high tension, which can damage them. The higher the tension, the greater the effort made by the heart to pump the blood.
This disorder is called "the silent killer," because most people with hypertension do not have any symptoms. In some cases, hypertension can cause headaches, shortness of breath, vertigo, chest pain, heart palpitations and nosebleeds.
According to information from the World Health Organization (WHO), complications due to hypertension are the cause of 9.4 million deaths every year in the world, and more than one in five adults has high blood pressure.
Among the main factors that affect blood pressure are hormonal levels. Thanks to menstruation, women have a lower predisposition to have high blood pressure, since the hormonal changes of each cycle help us to regulate it. But nevertheless, after menopause the risk of hypertension increases.
Some doctors believe that the increase in suffering after menopause is due precisely to the hormonal changes, although there is also the belief that the increase in body mass index (BMI) that occurs in menopausal women, influences much more than these hormonal changes.
The study
Posted in the American Journal of Hypertension, this new investigation was given to the task of identify whether breastfeeding alone influenced maternal hypertension. For the study, we analyzed the data of 3,119 non-smoking women 50 years of age and older, who had already gone through menopause.
Logistic regression analyzes were carried out to examine the relationship between breastfeeding and hypertension, and the mediation of analysis to examine how obesity and insulin sensitivity contributed to this relationship. It was found that the more children breastfeed and the longer breastfeeding, the risk of hypertension after menopause decreased significantly.
For example, the highest quintile, who considered breastfeeding a larger number of children (5 to 11 children in this case), showed that the risk of suffering from hypertension was reduced by up to 51%, compared to the lowest quintile, for which 0 to 1 children were considered. Regarding the duration of breastfeeding, it was found that those who were in the highest quintile, which were considered 96 to 324 months accumulated (that is, adding different lactations), decreased the risk of hypertension by up to 45%.
One theory that researchers have is that the woman's metabolism is restarted by breastfeeding after pregnancy, thus reducing the risk of obesity related diseases. In addition, it is also believed that oxytocin, which is released during breastfeeding, could be associated with the reduction of suffering from such diseases.
In conclusion: the more breastfeeding children and the longer you have breastfed, there will be less chance of mothers suffering from hypertension after menopause.
Control and preventing hypertension before menopause is also possible by making certain changes in our lifestyle, such as maintaining a healthy weight, consuming fruits and vegetables daily, reducing the amount of salt we consume, drinking plenty of water, reducing stress and limiting alcohol consumption.
