What You Need To Know News

A new study finds striking evidence that children who are obese or have high cholesterol show early warning signs of heart disease.

The study, presented Tuesday at the American Heart Association conference in New Orleans, found that the thickness of artery walls of children and teenagers who are obese or have high cholesterol resembled the thickness of artery walls of an average 45-year-old.

The study, which has not yet been published, was small, involving 70 children ages 6 to 19, and several experts said the results would need to be replicated to be considered conclusive. But they said the method used to measure artery wall thickness was considered a reliable indicator of heart disease risk, usually more reliable than cholesterol levels or other measures. The method, which uses ultrasound, has been applied to children in other studies in the last few years, but experts said this appeared to be the first time that results had been correlated to adults.

“I think this is a red flag,” said the lead author of the study, Dr. Geetha Raghuveer, a cardiologist and associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Medicine. “These kids are more similar to middle-aged adults.”

Scientists not involved in the study said the findings supported a growing body of research suggesting that childhood obesity in the United States was likely to result in heart disease as the children age.

“These findings are potentially consistent with predictions that obesity and its complications would result in cardiovascular disease becoming a pediatric illness,” said Dr. David Ludwig, an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard, who was a co-author of a 2005 study predicting that obesity could shorten the average child’s lifespan by two to five years. “There are other indications that this might be the case, but much of that has been speculative, so this may well be significant hard data, which has been largely lacking. This is actually looking at the development of atherosclerosis, the process that we know will, if it is not dealt with, lead to heart attack or stroke.”

Childhood obesity is considered an epidemic in the United States, with about 16 percent of children ages 2 to 19 considered obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although the number of new cases of childhood obesity appears to be leveling off, some experts say they are now seeing an increase in Type 2 diabetes in children, which they believe is a consequence of increased obesity.

The Kansas City study was one of several presented at the conference that looked at the link between childhood obesity and heart disease.

A study of 991 Australian children ages 5 to 15 found that children who were obese had greater enlargement of their hearts, as measured by the size of their left atrium, said the study’s leader, Dr. Julian G. Ayer, a heart researcher at the University of Sydney.

Another Australian study, of 150 10-year-olds, found that in the heart pumping process, the left ventricles were slower to untwist in children with a higher body-mass index, a relationship of weight to height, said a co-author of that study, Walter Abhayaratna, a researcher at Australian National University.

“These studies are interesting, imperfect corollary evidence of something we all believe is true,” said Dr. Lee Goldman, a cardiologist who is dean of the faculties of health, sciences and medicine at Columbia University. “The obesity epidemic in adolescents is the biggest adverse time bomb we’ve got going on in coronary diseases. These are high tech ways of adding more evidence.”

Dr. Goldman was a co-author of a study published in December 2007 in The New England Journal of Medicine in which a computer model was used to predict whether heart disease deaths in the United States would rise. The authors predicted that by 2035, there would be 100,000 additional cases of heart disease attributed to current instances of obesity in children, an estimate especially noteworthy given that advances in treatment have reduced cardiac deaths in recent years.

Another study published in the same journal at that time further bolstered the link between childhood obesity and heart disease. Analyzing the records of 276,835 Danes who were examined as children in 1930, researchers from Denmark found that the higher the children’s body-mass index in 1930, the greater the chances they would develop heart disease.

While it is too early to know if the current generation of American children will suffer more heart attacks, strokes or other heart problems, or experience them sooner, many heart researchers consider the growing corroboration of links between childhood obesity and heart disease alarming. Still, Dr. Raghuveer said that for the children she studied, hope was not lost.

“A lot of these kids’ arteries, even though they are in the early stages of atherosclerosis, are not hardened or calcified, not really advanced,” she said. “There may be an opportunity to implement lifestyle alterations, be it exercise, be it diet, or perhaps even medication. Perhaps it may be reversed.”

Dr. Raghuveer’s study used an ultrasound method called carotid artery intima-media thickness or CIMT to measure the thickness of the inner walls of the carotid arteries, located in the neck. Scientists, who measure the carotid artery because it is easier to capture images of neck arteries than the coronary arteries directly connected to the heart, say increased thickness in the carotid artery wall indicates greater amounts of fatty plaque in the arteries leading to the heart and brain. When such plaque ruptures, it can result in clots that lead to heart attack or stroke.

Of the 34 boys and 36 girls in the Kansas City study, patients at Dr. Raghuveer’s cardiology clinic at Children’s Mercy Hospital, 40 were obese and 30 were not considered obese but had high levels of LDL or bad cholesterol. Many also had high levels of triglycerides. Their average age was 13; average weight was 140 pounds. Nearly 90 percent were white.

The researchers found that 52 of the 70 participants had a maximum CIMT of at least 0.5 millimeters, a thickness that corresponded with the CIMT of an average 45-year-old or what Dr. Raghuveer called a “vascular age” of 45. She did not measure CIMT in normal-weight children and said there was no standard CIMT chart for children.

Vascular age is “an interesting idea, and I hope it gets out there,” said Dr. Gerald S. Berenson, head of the long-running Bogalusa Heart Study in Louisiana, who has taken CIMT measurements of children in the last few years.

Dr. Ludwig, director of the Optimal Weight for Life program at Children’s Hospital Boston, said that seeing risk factors like CIMT in children was especially worrying because “there’s not only a much longer period of time for it to be damaging the body, but it is also occurring at a stage of life where the body is still forming and the physiological systems are still being fine-tuned.”
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/health/12heart.html?hp

Watching too much television may not only help make children fat, it may also raise their blood pressure, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

They found obese children who watched four or more hours of TV a day were three times more likely to have high blood pressure than children who watched less than two hours a day.

“There is a significant association between hours of television watched and both the severity of obesity and the presence of hypertension in obese children,” Dr. Jeffrey Schwimmer of the University of California, San Diego and colleagues wrote in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Many studies have found a strong link between watching TV and obesity, but this is the first study to show a link between TV and blood pressure in obese children and teens, the researchers wrote.

Obesity in children is on the rise, increasing the risk of heart disease and diabetes. And high blood pressure in children has been rising in right along with obesity rates.

The problem is often undiagnosed in children, and if undetected, high blood pressure can quietly damage the organs, especially the kidneys.

Schwimmer worked with researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of South Alabama. They studied 546 children and teens aged 4 to 17 seen at weight management clinics from 2003 to 2005.

Height and weight were measured to determine a body mass index, or BMI, and blood pressure was recorded.

Children were considered obese if their BMI measures were above the 95th percentile for age and gender. Children in the study had a mean BMI of 35.5. In adults, a BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese.

The children and their parents estimated how much time they spent watching TV, and a doctor reviewed and confirmed their estimates.

The researchers found children who watched two to four hours of TV were 2.5 times more likely to have high blood pressure compared with those who watched less than two hours of television a day. Those who watched more than 4 hours per day were 3.3 times more likely to have hypertension.

The authors said the study illustrates the need for parents to curb their children’s TV time, especially for children who are already obese or have high blood pressure.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children watch fewer than two hours of TV per day.

Some 17 percent of U.S. children are obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Source: http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyandhealth/story.html?id=d23d08f5-3041-494a-ab7a-d52ea6d914a4

Constance Wedemeyer is quick to praise the merits and benefits of the Licking County Family YMCA’s “Activate Youth” program, which helps assist families and obese children.

The 12-week program preaches better nutrition and exercise habits, and Wedemeyer said those that stick to it often find themselves on the right track to lifestyle changes.

But it’s not just the children who sometimes are the most stubborn ones in the program.

“Parents don’t like to be told to clean out the cabinets and not have any junk food,” said Wedemeyer, the health and fitness coordinator at the YMCA.

“It’s just as much the parents as it is the children.”

This presents another difficult hurdle in promoting better health and fitness for youth.

Obesity in youths continues to be a major problem nationwide — more than 10 million children are considered obese, and overall, 60 percent of Americans are overweight — and in Licking County, and the task of reversing those trends becomes a massive uphill climb when it’s not a family effort.

Various studies show if both parents are considered healthy and in good shape, their children have a 10 percent chance to be overweight. If both parents are obese, however, it increases to 80 percent.

“You see kids that are overweight and not physically active, and that’s the norm for the whole family,” said Dr. John Applegate, a physician with Licking Memorial Pediatrics. “Taking care of your kids means taking care of the whole family. You have to work with the whole family to change their behaviors.”

Those behaviors include being more active and instilling more exercise in their daily routine, but that’s only part of an important equation.

Looming just as large for an increasingly sedentary lifestyle in youths is poor nutritional habits, which usually come directly from the parents.

“Children model their parents,” said Shari Gallup, Family and Consumer Sciences educator at Ohio State University’s Licking County Extension.

“It is a parenting issue because parents are going to the stores to purchase the food. A lot of studies that are done show what is put in front of a child, they typically eat.”

In most cases, food purchases aren’t made with healthy intentions.

Restaurant-industry sales will reach about $558 billion in 2008, according to the National Restaurant Association, almost $200 billion more than it was in 2000.

What’s often in those meals, many of which are the fast-food variety, is nowhere close to what’s healthy when things like processed sugars and portions are considered.

“I remember growing up, when we went out to eat on the weekend it was a huge deal,” The Advantage Club general manager Larry Miller said. “Now, it’s twice a day for people.

“You’re a product of your environment. If parents aren’t taking care of themselves, the best thing a kid can do is watch portion control.”

Gallup recommends snacks like cheese sticks and yogurt, along with plenty of vegetables. Most also agree sugary drinks — which means even products like Gatorade — should be kept to a minimum.

“It’s so easy to eat poorly. That’s probably the biggest thing that’s changed in the last 10 to 15 years,” said Clint Cox, the director of training at Total Athletic Development. “We have to educate parents to make better food choices.

“It starts with them and it starts at home. They’re the role models for kids in eating right and being physically active.”

If not, the children likely will become like their role models.

To help kids make changes, Gallup recommends the whole family work together.

It starts with planning activities to do as a group, such as an after-dinner walk or anything to promote exercise together.

But Gallup and others said it’s also crucial to limit things such as TV and to also promote healthy eating habits, which includes everything from proper foods to the proper portions.

Applegate uses a 5-2-1-almost none approach, which means five daily servings of fruits and vegetables, two hours of screen time, at least one hour of physical activity and almost no sugary drinks.

“The message I try to send is it only takes a small change,” Gallup said. “People in America want a quick fix, but it’s about making small steps and small changes. You want to chip away at things.

“You can’t lose all the weight at one time. If we can teach sound nutritional principles and fun physical activities, we can be successful.”

Source: http://www.newarkadvocate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080713/SPORTS/807130330/1006

To parents who have been seeking some slam dunk response to two questions that their offspring aged 5 to 8 seem particularly fond of whining incessantly — “Why do I have to go to bed so early?” and “Why can’t I have a TV in my room?” — science can now offer a reply that might just stop the little treasures in their tracks: “Because if I let you have your way, you will be a big fat obese tub by the time you hit the sixth grade.”
More sleep leads to less weight

According to a study by the University of Michigan published in Pediatrics, every extra hour of sleep per night that a third-grader gets lowers his or her chances of being obese by grade six by 40 percent. The crucial amount of slumber time seems to be nine hours and 45 minutes; anything more than that cuts the obesity risk significantly, whereas anything less increases the likelihood of obesity regardless of the child’s third-grade weight.

The exact reason is still unclear — some observers note that sleep shortage is known to disrupt certain hormones involved with appetite regulation, while others point out that a tired child is less inclined to engage in activity and exercise — but the bottom line is, more sleep, less child.
Attention is good for your kids

And don’t worry your parental head that you’re being mean or callous or unkind or somehow punishing your kids by not giving in on the sleep rule, or on other rules. A study of 2,500 children conducted by Temple University found that rules, even those imposed harshly by yelling and/or threats of spanking, do not effect children’s weight gain, but that neglecting or ignoring your children or withholding care and affection is highly likely to result in obesity.

In fact, the chances of becoming obese are fully 50 percent greater among children who have been neglected.

As with sleep, the process at work here is unclear, but the theory is that while small children understand the relationship between rules and discipline, simply being ignored leaves them feeling bewildered and at fault, and “empty” in a way that they may try to fill with food.

Kids need sleep, and they need your attention, which makes it a matter of two simple rules for the parent to observe:
Make sure your children get to bed early and on time and consistently and with no electronic distractions.
Don’t forget to tuck them in and kiss them good night.
Source: http://calorielab.com/news/2008/04/03/kids-stuff-sleeping-and-caring-help-prevent-obesity/

THERE is yet another report forecasting that in a mere seven years, there will be a third of people in this region who are obese.

When there is diet advice from every section of the media and healthy recipes and lifestyles abound in every magazine printed, how can this dreadful situation exist - what are people thinking of to allow themselves to become caricatures of human beings?

It does not happen overnight; it takes years of dedicated gluttony to produce the monstrous beings that so many of us have become.

The roly-poly examples of both sexes and, sadly, more and more children, show just how lax women have become in planning nutritious and healthy meals for families.

I say women quite deliberately, because, whether they like it or not, they are the main providers of food in households. Children who are reared almost from birth on junk food and fizzy drinks and hardly ever see or taste fresh fruit or vegetables or fresh, home-cooked meals do not stand a chance of growing up with a taste for healthy, nutritious food that will give them the energy and incentive to move from the computer or TV screen.

And I wish clothes manufacturers would stop making jeans in sizes larger than, say, 16.

These nationally favoured garments should be taboo to women who at present are free to wobble and roll their way round our streets, with their superfluous flesh poured into close-fitting pants that were never designed to cover bottoms of ever-increasing size.

If they could see the sight they present to the world they would never venture outside again.

It is about time we started treating them as health warnings and not victims, and lay the worsening state of our children’s, and society’s, health firmly where it belongs.
Source: http://www.thisisyork.co.uk/news/readersletters/display.var.2104218.0.big_dangers_of_ignoring_obesity.php

Studies show that Tennessee is in the top 10 for childhood obesity and diabetes.

“It’s now estimated that as many as one-third of children are overweight or obese in this country,” said Dr. Russell

Rothman of Vanderbilt Center for Health Services.
Researchers at Vanderbilt Medical Center surveyed families with children who have type 2 diabetes. The study found that 87 percent of the kids were obese, but only 41 percent of parents thought their kids had a weight problem.

Only 35 percent of those children thought they were too heavy.

“If anything, you think they would be more aware that they are overweight because they already had type 2 diabetes, and they were being treated in a clinic,” said Rothman.

Type 2 diabetes develops mostly in adults who are overweight and not physically active. Rothman said the disease among children is growing at an alarming rate.

“Ten years ago we only treated about 10 or 20 kids with type 2 diabetes. We are now seeing 200 kids,” said Rothman.

Diabetes sets children up for a lifetime of potential health problems. Doctors said that the bottom line is that people have to learn to control what they eat to curb this potentially deadly disease.

“If you have diabetes when you are 10 or 12 (years old), that means you have a very high risk in your 20s and 30s of developing complications like heart attack, stroke, trouble with your vision, kidney trouble,” said Rothman

The Centers for Disease Control now estimates that one in three children born will develop diabetes in their lifetime.

Doctors said they have to reteach children and their parents about the importance of diet and exercise.

They said that the first step in combating obesity is for parents to recognize that their child is overweight.

Source: http://www.wsmv.com/health/15449102/detail.html

The more sleep children get a night, the lower their risk of being overweight or obese, a new study from the United States suggests.

Researchers at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that with each additional hour of sleep, the risk of a child being overweight or obese dropped by nine per cent.

“Our analysis of the data shows a clear association between sleep duration and the risk for overweight or obesity in children. The risk declined with more sleep,” said senior author Youfa Wang, an associate professor at the Bloomberg School’s Center for Human Nutrition, in a release.

The researchers reviewed 17 published studies on sleep duration and childhood obesity and analyzed 11 for their study, published in the February edition of the journal Obesity.

While the recommended amount of daily sleep for children varies by study, the Hopkins team used the suggestion that children under five should sleep at least 11 hours a day; those age five to ten at least 10 hours; and children over 10 at least nine hours.

The researchers found that children who had the fewest hours of sleep —less than 9 hours for children under five or less than seven for those over 10 — had a 92 per cent higher risk of being overweight or obese compared to children who slept longer.

Children who had sleep durations a few hours shorter than the recommended amount were found to have a 58 per cent higher risk of being overweight.

“The prevalence of childhood obesity may be decreased by increasing sleep duration, independent of other risk factors for childhood obesity,” the researchers wrote. ”Our findings have some important public health implications for fighting the growing childhood obesity epidemic.”

A combination of an earlier bedtime and a later wake time to increase sleep duration could help prevent childhood obesity, the scientists said.

The study said sleep deprivation may be biologically linked to obesity by, for example, affecting hormone levels and metabolism.

Little sleep leads to less calories, lethargy

One theory suggests short sleep leads to low caloric intake and expenditure since sleep deprivation often results in fatigue, daytime sleepiness and low activity levels.

Previous research also suggests sleep deprivation results in changes in levels of several hormones, including insulin and growth hormone, which may contribute to energy imbalance and lead to obesity

“Desirable sleep behaviours may represent an important and relatively low-cost strategy to reduce childhood obesity,” the researchers wrote.

The link between increased sleep and reduced obesity risk was found to be strong in boys but not in girls. The study said while the reason for this gender difference “remains unclear,” some research suggests that girls may be more resilient to environmental stressors and thus need greater levels of deprivation to be affected than boys.

The researchers wrote that further research is required to “test the effectiveness of sleep extension for obesity prevention among children and adolescents.”