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Breastfeeding may shape children’s hearts

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2025)Cite this article

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TO THE EDITOR,

Until recently, we were slow to realize that breastfeeding could be of any consequence for children’s cardiac fitness. Therefore, moved by great curiosity, we started reading the article by Wang et al. [1]. As we progressed through it, we became increasingly aware of the important data it adds to our existing knowledge of the effects of breastfeeding on the cardiac development of infants and children. Among other heart chambers, they have focused on the structural or functional variations of the left atrium, which is rare in pediatric cardiac research. Additionally, they have linked these findings to the duration of breastfeeding. The multivariate analysis of Wang et al. showed that longer breastfeeding duration was positively associated with larger left atrial end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes (LAVd, LAVs), both within the normal range.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Ca’n Misses District Hospital, Eivissa, Spain

    Juan-Antonio Costa

  2. Department of Primary Care, La Vileta Surgery, Pediatric Unit, Palma de Mallorca, Spain

    Sergio Verd

  3. Balearic Institute of Medical Research (IdISBa), Palma de Mallorca, Spain

    Sergio Verd

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  1. Juan-Antonio Costa
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  2. Sergio Verd
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Correspondence to Sergio Verd.

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Costa, JA., Verd, S. Breastfeeding may shape children’s hearts. Eur J Clin Nutr (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-025-01695-x

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