ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The number of colony-forming unit (CFU)-Hill colonies has been proposed as a biomarker of vascular function and cardiovascular risk in adults but information about its role in children is scarce. This study evaluates the associations between obesity, cardiovascular risk factors and breastfeeding history with the numbers of CFU-Hill colonies in a sample of young people. METHODS AND RESULTS: We selected 49 children and teenagers between ages 10 and 17 (65.3% boys) from Mexican Health Care system. Physical activity and Anthropometric measures data were registered. CFU-Hill colonies were cultured from mononuclear cells obtained from venous blood. We detected inverse associations between the formation of CFU-Hill colonies and body mass index (BMI; ß = -1.53; 95% confidence interval [CI], -1.92, -1.13), triglycerides (ß = -0.26; 95%CI = -0.34, -0.18), total cholesterol (ß = -0.13; 95%CI = -0.17, -0.08), Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) (ß = -0.20; 95%CI = -0.31, -0.09) and glucose (ß = -0.37; 95%CI = -0.55, -0.18) using multivariate models. Breastfeeding duration showed a 1.46-colony increase for each month of breastfeeding (95%CI = 0.73, 2.18). CONCLUSIONS: CFU-Hill colony-forming capacity in children and teenagers was inversely associated with obesity, dyslipidemia and high blood levels of glucose. In contrast a longer breastfeeding duration was directly associated with an increased number of CFU-Hill colonies. However these results must be confirmed with further studies. Our findings support the importance of promoting breastfeeding and monitoring nutritional and metabolic status at an early age to prevent chronic disease development.
