Shocking New Information Links Childhood Obesity To Heart Attacks

According to the latest information published by the Endocrine Society it is now believed that children who are obese as young as 7 years of age are increasing their risk of heart attacks and cardiovascular problems significantly in the future.

This latest study shows clearly that the unhealthy consequences of excess body fat start very early according to Nelly Mauras, MD, of Nemours Children’s Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida and senior author of the entire study.

This study has managed to show that obesity in these young children makes them as adults far more susceptible to cardiovascular problems in the future. Than children who are not obese in childhood.

These findings help if any confirmation was infact needed that Michelle Obama’s childhood obesity initiative is needed far sooner than later and indeed the future of child hood weight control should be of paramount importance to all parents.

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of risk factors that raise the risk of developing heart disease, stroke and diabetes which is becoming more prevalent in adults and it is now being increasingly diagnosed in children as being overweight becomes a greater problem for the whole population.

Although debate exists as to its exact definition, to receive a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome, one must have at least three of the following characteristics: increased waist circumference (abdominal fat), low HDL (”good”) cholesterol, high triglycerides (fats in the blood), high blood pressure and high blood glucose (blood sugar).

The research team wanted to know if obesity could raise cardiovascular disease risk prior to the onset of the metabolic syndrome in children and the results were quite shocking and without going in to specifics showed there was a far greater risk in obese and overweight children than those who were not.

One interesting factor the study revealled when looking for suitable candidates to use was that generally parents which were obese and showed at least some of the signs of metabolic disorder were more likely to have children with similar traits.

Whilst up until now doctors have suspected a causal link between obese adults this has not been believed to be the case
in such young children and the indications are that obese children are 10 times more likely to suffer adult cardiovascular problems.

I would like all readers of this blog to encourage your children to exercise more and eat less and if you have any concerns contact me through the blog and I will try and at least point you in the right direction. Don’t forget to check out my new site at Teenage Obesity.

Related articles by Childhood Obesity

• Childhood obesity alone may increase risk of later cardiovascular disease (scienceblog.com)
• Obesity Drives Hypertension Epidemic in the Young (drsharma.ca)
• Young adults at risk of cardiovascular disease (parentcentral.ca)
• Health At Every Size (slog.thestranger.com)

Tagged with: Blood sugar • Cardiovascular disease • Diabetes mellitus • Health • Heart disease • Metabolic syndrome • Obesity

Filed under: weight loss in the news

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!