Kids' Healthy Lifestyle Cuts Heart Risk
Kids' Healthy Lifestyle Cuts Heart Risk
Nov. 4, 2003 -- There is growing evidence that lifestyle factors influence heart disease risk as early as adolescence and even childhood. Two new studies suggest a link between early obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease later in life.
The findings point to the importance of promoting healthy lifestyles early, says researcher Gerald S. Berenson, MD, who has followed a group of children living in Bogalusa, La., for the past 30 years to assess their risk for heart attacks and strokes.
His study and similar research from Finland are published in the Nov. 5 issue of TheJournal of the American Medical Association.
"These latest findings confirm what we have known for some time," Berenson tells WebMD. "Cardiovascular damage occurs early and is strongly linked to obesity and other known risk factors. It is never too early to be concerned about these risk factors."
In the latest report on the Bogalusa study, Berenson and colleagues studied 486 people between the ages of 25 and 37 with at least three traditional risk factors for heart disease since childhood.
Although the young adults had no outward signs of heart disease, cardiovascular risk factors measured during childhood such as obesity and "bad" LDL cholesterol were associated with increased carotid artery wall thickness.
Carotid arteries on either side of the neck carry oxygen-rich blood away from the heart to the head and body. A thickening of the walls of these arteries due to fat and cholesterol deposits -- known as atherosclerosis -- is a marker for heart disease.
The researchers also found that adult measures of obesity, higher than normal LDLcholesterol levels, and systolic blood pressure were independent risk factors for carotid artery wall thickening. The men in the study had a higher overall risk than did the women, and blacks were at higher risk than whites.
Kids' Healthy Lifestyle Cuts Heart Risk
Nov. 4, 2003 -- There is growing evidence that lifestyle factors influence heart disease risk as early as adolescence and even childhood. Two new studies suggest a link between early obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease later in life.
The findings point to the importance of promoting healthy lifestyles early, says researcher Gerald S. Berenson, MD, who has followed a group of children living in Bogalusa, La., for the past 30 years to assess their risk for heart attacks and strokes.
His study and similar research from Finland are published in the Nov. 5 issue of TheJournal of the American Medical Association.
"These latest findings confirm what we have known for some time," Berenson tells WebMD. "Cardiovascular damage occurs early and is strongly linked to obesity and other known risk factors. It is never too early to be concerned about these risk factors."
Childhood Cholesterol and Obesity Matter
In the latest report on the Bogalusa study, Berenson and colleagues studied 486 people between the ages of 25 and 37 with at least three traditional risk factors for heart disease since childhood.
Although the young adults had no outward signs of heart disease, cardiovascular risk factors measured during childhood such as obesity and "bad" LDL cholesterol were associated with increased carotid artery wall thickness.
Carotid arteries on either side of the neck carry oxygen-rich blood away from the heart to the head and body. A thickening of the walls of these arteries due to fat and cholesterol deposits -- known as atherosclerosis -- is a marker for heart disease.
The researchers also found that adult measures of obesity, higher than normal LDLcholesterol levels, and systolic blood pressure were independent risk factors for carotid artery wall thickening. The men in the study had a higher overall risk than did the women, and blacks were at higher risk than whites.
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