Breastfeeding Can Cut Cardiovascular Risk
Breastfeeding can reduce the risk of a heart attack or stoke later in life and could prevent hundreds of ____1_____ of deaths each year, researchers said on Friday.
Babies who are breastfed have fewer childhood infections and allergies and are less ____2____ to obesity. British scientists have now shown that breastfeeding and slow growth in the first weeks and months of life has a protective effect ____3___ cardiovascular disease.
“Diets that promote more rapid growth put babies at risk many years later in ____4____ of raising their blood pressure, raising their cholesterol and increasing their tendency to diabetes and obesity—the _____5____ main risk factors for stroke and heart attack,” said Professor Alan Lucas of the Institute of Child Health in London.
“Our evidence suggests that the reason why breast-fed babies do better is because they grow more ____6____ in the early weeks.”
Lucas said the effects of breastfeeding on blood pressure and cholesterol later in life are greater than _____7_____ adults can do to control the risk factors for cardiovascular disease, other than taking drugs.
An estimated 17 million people die of _____8_____ disease, particularly heart attack and strokes, each year, according to the World Health Organisation.
Lucas and his colleagues compared the health of 216 teenagers ____9___ as babies had either been breastfed or given different nutritional baby formulas1. They reported their _____10____ in The Lancet medical journal.
The teenagers who had been ___11____ had a 14-percent lower ratio of bad to good cholesterol and lower concentrations of a protein that is a marker for cardiovascular disease risk.
The researchers also found that, ____12___ of the child’s weight at birth, the faster the infants grew in the early weeks and months of life, the ____13____ was their later risk of heart disease and stroke. The effect was the ___14___ for both boys and girls.
“The more human milk you have in the newborn period, the lower your cholesterol level is, the lower your blood pressure is 16 years ____15____,” Lucas said.
1. A) hundreds B) thousands C) millions D) numbers
2. A) likely B) possible C) easy D) prone
3. A) against B) towards C) onto D) upon
4. A) forms B) cases C) terms D) places
5. A) two B) four C) three D) five
6. A) slowly B) quickly C) strongly D) obviously
7. A) which B) that C) something D) anything
8. A) various B) heart C) cardiovascular D) multiple
9. A) who B) such C) when D) taken
10. A) thoughts B) findings C) viewpoints D) breakthroughs
11. A) surveyed B) interviewed C) handled D) breastfed
12. A) despite B) warning C) regardless D) needful
13. A) smaller B) greater C) faster D) worse
14. A) true B) right C) proper D) same
15. A) later B) after C) late D) ago
