The influence of early environmental factors, including nutrition, on future cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and, in a broader view, the concept of early metabolic programming and future health have been extensively discussed during the past decades. Observational studies have suggested that formula-fed infants as compared with breastfed infants have an elevated risk of future CVD, since they have faster early growth rate and higher risk of overweight, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and unfavorable blood lipid profile in adult age. Formula-fed preterm infants have higher serum C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration, higher serum low-density lipoprotein to high-density lipoprotein (LDL:HDL) ratio, and higher serum apolipoprotein B to apolipoprotein A1 (apoB:apoA1) ratio in adolescence as compared with preterm infants receiving banked breast milk.
The influence of early environmental factors, including nutrition, on future cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and, in a broader view, the concept of early metabolic programming and future health have been extensively discussed during the past decades. Observational studies have suggested that formula-fed infants as compared with breastfed infants have an elevated risk of future CVD.