Long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in infant formula and cardiovascular markers in childhood

To investigate whether children who consumed infant formula supplemented with long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs) had a more favourable cardiovascular profile than children who consumed formula without these fatty acids, we used the Wheezing Illnesses Study Leidsche Rijn, a birth cohort that included 2,468 newborns between 2001 and 2014. Data on infant feeding were obtained by questionnaires. At age 5, blood pressure, carotid intima‐media thickness (CIMT), and carotid distension were measured. We used multivariable linear regression analysis to compare levels of cardiovascular markers in formula‐fed children born before and after the LCPUFA supplementation. To account for secular trends, we compared levels of cardiovascular markers in a control group of breastfed children from the same cohort born before and after the supplementation. Formula‐fed children born after the LCPUFA supplementation (n = 48) had no different systolic blood pressure (?2.58 mmHg, 95% confidence interval, CI [?5.5, 0.30]), diastolic blood pressure (?0.13 mmHg, 95% CI [?2.3, 2.1]), or carotid distension (24.8 MPa^?1, 95% CI [?47.1, 96.6]) and had a higher CIMT (18.6 μm, 95% CI [3.7, 33.5]) than formula‐fed children born before the supplementation (n = 163). In the control group, children born after the LCPUFA supplementation (n = 98) had no different systolic‐ or diastolic‐blood pressure, or CIMT, and a higher carotid distension than children born before the supplementation (n = 142). In conclusion, children who consumed infant formula supplemented with LCPUFAs did not have a more favourable cardiovascular profile in early childhood than children who consumed formula without LCPUFAs.