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Medical Video: Weighing the Facts of Obesity
Recent research has found strong evidence that obese children or children with high cholesterol show early symptoms of heart disease. The study reported, arterial wall thickness in children and adolescents obese or high cholesterol had resembled arterial wall thickness of adults 45 years of age in general.
This study, although not yet officially published, is relatively small, involving only 70 children aged 6-19 years, and some experts say the results still cannot be used as official references. However, they say, the method used to measure arterial wall thickness is indeed an indicator of reliable heart disease, generally more reliable than scanning cholesterol levels or other measurements. This method, using ultrasound, was applied to children in other studies over the past few years, but experts say this is the first time the results have correlated with adults.
Scientists who were not involved in the study said that the findings support the progress of the contents of a study that mentions that obesity in children is associated with an increased risk of heart disease as the child grows.
This finding is consistent with predictions that obesity and its complications will make heart disease a children's health problem too. There are a number of other indications that indicate this might happen, but so far only mere speculation, so this finding may be said to be raw data that is less than various aspects, although it is considered significant. This finding refers more to the development of the atherosclerosis process, which if not handled properly, will result in a heart attack or stroke.
Although the number of new cases in childhood obesity seems to be diminishing, some experts detect an increase in type 2 diabetes in early childhood. They believe that the increase in this condition is a consequence of the soaring obesity rate.
A study conducted on 991 Australian children aged 5-15 found that obese children suffer from heart enlargement, measured by the size of the left atrium of their heart.
Another Australian study showed that the pumping process of the heart, in 150 children aged 10 years, left ventricular heart of children with a high body mass index worked more slowly.
This research is interesting, because what we have believed has proven true. The childhood obesity epidemic is the biggest time bomb in the history of coronary disease. This research is high technology to add new evidence.
Another study published in the same journal at that time further supports the relationship between childhood obesity and heart disease. Analyzing records of 276,835 Danish residents who were examined as children in 1930, Danish researchers found that the higher the body mass index number in children (in 1930), the more likely they were to suffer from heart disease.
Although it is still too early to find out whether today's young people will be more at risk of heart attack, stroke, or other heart problems, or will experience it sooner, many cardiologists consider the development of evidence that strengthens the relationship between childhood obesity and disease heart worrying.
Many of the heart arteries of these children do not harden or whitewash even though they show signs of an early stage of atherosclerosis. There may still be opportunities to implement alternative healthy lifestyles, with exercise, or dietary arrangements, or maybe with drug therapy. Maybe this condition can be overcome.
This study was carried out by an ultrasound method called carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT) to measure the wall thickness in the carotid artery in the child's neck. Scientists who measure the carotid arteries on the grounds that the carotid arteries in the neck are more easily scanned than the coronary arteries in the heart, say that the increase in arterial wall thickness indicates the amount of larger fat plaques in the arteries that connect the liver to the heart. If the plaque breaks, it can cause blood clots which can lead to a heart attack or stroke.
Experts say that, judging by risk factors, cases of obesity in children are very worrying, not only because of a longer period of time to damage the body, but also because this occurs at a crucial growth stage where their body is still developing and the child's physiological system is being built up.
