Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Considerations of Childhood Obesity

Imagine being 7 years old with the arteries of a 40 or 50 year old. Sufferers of childhood obesity or problems with cholesterol exhibit these same results. New Orleans is the stage for a study that was presented to the American Heart Association at their conference.

The study goes on to say that the artery walls in these obese children have the same consistency as a person who is 45. It appears that the epidemic of childhood obesity is going to lead to early onslaught of cardiac problems. This particular set of circumstances means that now heart disease would become a pediatric issue.

16 percent of kids in the U. S. are considered obese. This is leading to more cardiac events e.g. heart attacks and strokes, and more incidents of Type 2 Diabetes than ever before. A computer model was made in December of 2007 and it found that at the present rate of obesity in children, that by 2035, the number of incidents of heart disease will increase by one hundred thousand cases. This is really quite a statement if you consider the way cardiac care has improved recently.

It is however thought that childhood obesity can be reversed. Plaque in the arteries hasn't had the chance to harden so there may be a chance they can be eradicated from the blood system.

Children who are obese should have their blood pressure and blood work done on a regular basis. If the child is obese, has high cholesterol levels or has a family history of heart problems.

Pediatricians will also treat childhood obesity with medication but only after most avenues for change have failed to produce results.

Ken Glauser

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