Childhood obesity increases heart disease risk in kids as young as 7.Byline: ANI Washington, June 12 (ANI): A new study has revealed that childhood obesity childhood obesity Public health Overweight in a child, an average BMI of ≥ 85% for age and sex; ≥ 95% for age and sex is very obese. See Body-mass index, Obesity. Cf Adult obesity. increases the risk of heart disease and stroke in kids as young as 7 years of age, even without the presence of other cardiovascular risk factors, such as high blood pressure. Principal investigator and senior author Dr. Nelly Mauras, Chief of Pediatric Endocrinology at Nemours Children's Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, said that the study showed that the unhealthy consequences of excess body fat start very early. The study demonstrated that obesity alone is linked to certain abnormalities in the blood that can predispose pre·dis·pose v. To make susceptible, as to a disease. individuals to developing cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease Disease that affects the heart and blood vessels. Mentioned in: Lipoproteins Test cardiovascular disease early in adulthood. "Our study finding suggests that we need more aggressive interventions for weight control in obese children, even those who do not have the co-morbidities of the metabolic syndrome," said Mauras. The metabolic syndrome is a cluster of risk factors that raise the risk of developing heart disease, stroke and diabetes and is increasingly being diagnosed in children, as obesity becomes a greater problem. Metabolic syndrome is usually diagnosed by increased waist circumference (abdominal fat) or low HDL (Hardware Description Language) A language used to describe the functions of an electronic circuit for documentation, simulation or logic synthesis (or all three). Although many proprietary HDLs have been developed, Verilog and VHDL are the major standards. ("good") cholesterol or high triglycerides Triglycerides Fatty compounds synthesized from carbohydrates during the process of digestion and stored in the body's adipose (fat) tissues. High levels of triglycerides in the blood are associated with insulin resistance. (fats in the blood), high blood pressure and high blood glucose (blood sugar). The researchers wanted to know whether simple obesity could raise cardiovascular disease risk before the metabolic syndrome develops, and thus screened over 300 individuals ages 7 to 18 years. The study included just those without features of the metabolic syndrome. All study participants underwent blood testing for known markers for predicting the development of cardiovascular disease, which included elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP C-reactive protein (CRP) A protein present in blood serum in various abnormal states, like inflammation. Mentioned in: Pelvic Inflammatory Disease CRP, n.pr See C-reactive protein. ), a marker of inflammation, and abnormally high fibrinogen Fibrinogen The major clot-forming substrate in the blood plasma of vertebrates. Though fibrinogen represents a small fraction of plasma proteins (normal human plasma has a fibrinogen content of 2–4 mg/ml of a total of 70 mg protein/ml), its conversion , a clotting factor, among others. It was found that obese children had a 10 fold higher CRP and significantly higher fibrinogen concentrations, compared with age- and sex-matched lean children. Such abnormalities occurred in obese children as young as 7-year-olds, long before the onset of puberty. Mauras said that the results were striking, as the children were entirely healthy otherwise. "Doctors often do not treat obesity in children now unless they have other features of the metabolic syndrome. This practice should be reconsidered. Further studies by the growup will offer further insight into the effects of therapeutic interventions in these children," she said. The results were presented at The Endocrine Society's 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. (ANI) Copyright 2009 Asian News International The Asian News International (ANI) agency provides multimedia news to China and 50 bureaus in India. It covers virtually all of South Asia since its foundation and presently claims, on its official website, to be the leading South Asia-wide news agency. (ANI) - All Rights Reserved. Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
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