Good Health in Childhood Pays Off
Reported February 25, 2005
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Children who have healthy blood sugar levels, blood pressure, weight and cholesterol are likely to become heart-healthy adults, say Tulane researchers in New Orleans.
Previous research shows when risk factors for metabolic syndrome and heart disease are present in childhood, high blood pressure, hardened arteries, heart disease and diabetes are more likely to occur in adulthood. The study authors explain metabolic syndrome is when a patient shows a cluster of symptoms including fat around the waistline, high blood pressure, low levels of HDL (good) cholesterol, and high triglycerides.
The new study results out of Tulane show the reverse is also true: For the one in 10 children who had favorable levels of the factors that make up metabolic syndrome, those measures were also favorable in adulthood. Keeping these risk factors low throughout a person’s life, say study authors, reduces the risk of heart disease, many cancers, and other chronic health problems.
“Parents can think of keeping their children healthy as a long-term investment in their lifelong health,” says principal investigator and cardiologist Gerald Berenson, M.D. “We have known for a while that children who are overweight or have high blood pressure are likely to carry those problems into adulthood. This research shows that children who have healthy levels of the health factors that make up metabolic syndrome have a reduced risk of heart disease in adulthood.”
The data was collected over two decades from 1,474 participants in the Bogalusa Heart Study, which is the longest-running study of heart disease risk factors beginning in childhood.
SOURCE: Diabetes Care, 2005;28:126-131
