High levels of selenium and manganese during pregnancy may protect your baby from future high blood pressure

Children exposed to high levels of trace minerals manganese and selenium during their mother’s pregnancy had a lower risk of childhood hypertension, according to a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Researchers analyzed levels of toxic metals and trace minerals in Blood sample It was extracted from about 1,200 women in the Boston region who gave birth between 2002 and 2013. They found that the higher the level of selenium or manganese in the mother’s blood, the lower the level of selenium or manganese in the mother’s blood. blood pressure Children’s reading at the clinic visit 3 to 15 years later.

Researchers have also observed that manganese has a stronger inverse relationship with childhood blood. pressure Maternal blood concentration cadmium, Toxic heavy metals, Higher-suggests that manganese partially lowers blood pressure by counteracting the blood pressure-increasing effect of cadmium.

Results will be displayed online on June 23 Environmental hygiene outlook..

“These results suggest that healthy levels of selenium and manganese in pregnant mothers’ diets may protect their children from the development of high blood pressure,” said Bloomberg School of Epidemiology. Dr. Noel Mueller, an assistant professor and chief research author of “This study emphasizes the importance of intrauterine nutrition and environmental exposure for cardiovascular health in children, and further research will ultimately aim to prevent disease. May lead to nutritional guidance and environmental regulations. “

Hypertension is one of the major modifiable risk factors for other debilitating and fatal illnesses such as heart disease, stroke, renal failure and Alzheimer’s disease. It’s also very common. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about half of Americans over the age of 20 have hypertension. Systolic blood pressure Diastolic blood pressure above 130 mm Hg or above 80 mm Hg, or antihypertensive drugs are prescribed.

Previous studies have suggested that predisposition to hypertension can begin early in life, even in utero, and protection from that predisposition can also begin early. Researchers considered these questions in this study. They compared the child’s blood pressure measurements with the levels of toxic metals and trace minerals in the mother’s blood. They measured the toxic metals lead, mercury, and cadmium, which are associated with hypertension in adults. They then examined the levels of the trace minerals manganese and selenium, which are associated with lowering blood pressure.

The dataset used for the analysis covered 1,194 mother-child pairs from a study known as the Boston Birth Cohort. Blood pressure measurements for children were taken at ages ranging from 3 to 15 years. Most mothers were black (61%) or Hispanic (20%).

Previous evidence predominates lead, mercury, and cadmium High blood pressure For adult heart disease, researchers did not find a link between these toxic metals and childhood blood pressure in this study. However, they observed an association between maternal selenium levels and lowering blood pressure in childhood offspring. It was found that each time the maternal selenium level doubled, the child’s systolic blood pressure decreased by an average of 6.23 points. Manganese showed a similar relationship, albeit weakly related to blood pressure. When the exposure doubled, systolic blood pressure decreased by an average of 2.62 points.

Although cadmium itself was not associated with childhood blood pressure, researchers found that the inverse relationship between manganese and childhood blood pressure was significantly stronger when maternal blood levels of cadmium were high. This finding suggests that manganese can specifically protect against the hypertensive effects of cadmium, and may even mask the hypertensive effects of cadmium in the normal population.

“People often think that exposure to heavy metals such as cadmium occurs only in the occupational environment, but in reality these metals are around us. For example, cadmium is found in normal cigarette smoke. “It has been done,” said Dr. Mingyu Zhang, the lead author of the study. D. Candidate for Mueller’s research group.

Emphasizing the apparent cadmium link, researchers observed it manganese Low was much more strongly associated blood Pressure on children whose mother smoked during pregnancy.

Manganese and selenium have antioxidant properties and are found in a variety of foods such as nuts, grains, leafy vegetables and seafood.

Researchers aim to replicate their findings in studies based on other birth cohorts. Johns Hopkins maintains a registry of birth cohort datasets under the Environmental Impact on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program.