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Overweight kids show heart risks as teens
By Amy Norton
Fri Sep 21, 1:41 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Overweight children may show a collection of risk factors for heart disease by the time they are teenagers, a new study shows.
Researchers found that overweight and obese 8-year-olds were seven-times more likely than their thinner peers to have multiple heart disease risk factors at the age of 15. These risks included high blood pressure, unhealthy cholesterol levels and elevations in blood sugar and insulin, a blood-sugar-regulating hormone.
Along with obesity, all of these problems are components of metabolic syndrome, which in turn raises the long-term risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
The findings, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, add to evidence of the serious health consequences of childhood obesity.
Past studies have found that even teenagers and young adults can show signs of disease in their heart arteries if they are obese or have type 2 diabetes.
The current results also suggest that doctors need only measure children's weight and height, and not their waistlines, to get a good picture of their future heart risks. Childhood body mass index (BMI) -- a measure of weight in relation to height -- was more strongly related to future cardiac risk factors than waist circumference was.
This is in contrast to the case with adults, where waist size seems particularly telling when it comes to heart health. Even among men and women with a normal BMI, those who carry their fat around the middle seem to have elevated risks of metabolic syndrome and heart disease.
Children are not adults, however, and you don't see thin children with large waistlines, explained lead study author Dr. Sarah P. Garnett, of the Children's Hospital at Westmead in Australia.
The findings are based on 172 children who had their BMI and waist size measured at the age of 8, and were assessed for various heart disease risk factors at age 15. Roughly 10 percent were found to have three or more such risk factors; this risk or "clustering" was far more likely in teens who had been overweight or obese as children.
"The risk factor clustering observed in adolescents is likely to persist over time and will progress clinically," Garnett told Reuters Health. The findings underscore the need to prevent obesity early on, according to the researcher.
"The consequences of childhood obesity are devastating," she said.
SOURCE: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, September 2007.
Fatty liver can be a sign of serious problems to come
A diet rich in potatoes, white bread and white rice may be contributing to a "silent epidemic" of a dangerous liver condition.
"High-glycaemic" foods - rapidly digested by the body - could be causing "fatty liver", increasing the risk of serious illness.
Boston-based researchers, writing in the journal Obesity, found mice fed starchy foods developed the disease.
Those fed a similar quantity of other foods did not.
One obesity expert said fatty liver in today's children was "a tragedy of the future".
GLYCAEMIC INDEX
High GI foods:
Mashed potato
White bread
Chips
Some breakfast cereals (eg Cornflakes, Rice Krispies, Coco Pops) Steamed white rice
Moderate GI foods:
Muesli (non-toasted)
Boiled potatoes
Pitta bread
Basmati rice
Honey
Wholemeal bread
Low GI foods:
Roasted salted peanuts
Rye and granary bread
Whole and skimmed milk
Spaghetti
Boiled carrots
Baked beans
Fatty liver is exactly as it sounds - a build-up over time of fat deposits around the organ.
At the time, no ill-effects are felt, but it has been linked with a higher risk of potentially fatal liver failure later in life.
The study, carried out at Boston Children's Hospital, looked at the effect of diets with precisely the same calorific content, but very different ingredients when measured using the glycaemic index (GI).
This is a measure of how quickly the energy in the food is absorbed by the body, producing a rise in blood sugar levels - high GI foods lead to sharper rises in blood sugar, and similar rises in insulin levels, as the body releases the chemical in response.
High GI foods include many breakfast cereals and processed foods such as white bread and white rice.
Low GI foods include unprocessed fruit, nuts, pulses and grains, including rye or granary bread, spaghetti, apples and oranges.
Silent and deadly
After six months on the diet, the mice weighed the same, but those on the high GI diet had twice the normal amount of fat in their bodies, blood and livers.
Fatty liver is going to be one of the tragedies of the future unless we do something about it
The researchers say that because the processed carbohydrates are absorbed so quickly, they trigger the release of more of the chemical insulin, which tells the body to lay down more fat.
Dr David Ludwig, who led the research, said that the results would also apply to humans, and even children, in whom fatty liver is becoming far more common.
Between a quarter and half of all overweight American children are thought to have the condition, he said.
"This is a silent but dangerous epidemic," he said.
"Just as type 2 diabetes exploded into our consciousness in the 1990s, so we think fatty liver will in the coming decade."
Insulin resistance
Tam Fry, National Obesity Forum board member and chairman of the Child Growth Foundation, said it was clear that eating a diet rich in high-glycaemic food led to increased fat.
He said: "Fatty liver is going to be one of the tragedies of the future unless we do something about it."
Azmina Govindja, a dietician and spokesman for the British Dietetic Association, said that the biggest threat from a diet rich in high-glycaemic food was development of insulin resistance - the first sign of type 2 diabetes.
She said: "There is a place for high-glycaemic carbohydrates in moderation as part of a balanced diet, but there's good research that eating too much can increase the risk of insulin resistance - and this can lead to serious health problems.
"However, this study is interesting, as there is other evidence that people who eat a diet rich in high-glycaemic food are more likely to have more body fat."
With the Aid of Vitamin Pills, Paralyzed Boy Walks
The Daily Telegraph
A boy of 10 who was left paralyzed by an illness so rare that it has been named after him is recovering after taking vitamin tablets. Timothy Bingham suffers from Bingham Syndrome, a condition that has left him unable to move his limbs. He communicates by blinking. For the past five years, since Timothy was struck down by flu-like attacks, lost his appetite, and collapsed, his parents have sought a cure.
Now, specialists at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London have discovered that Timothy lacks a vitamin that protects his nervous system. Since taking three amino acid l-serine tablets a day, he has managed to lift up his head and walk a few steps with support. He has also begun to move his toes, raising hopes that he might be able to walk to school and play as a normal child would.
His mother, Kate Bingham, 40, said, ³We do not know whether this will be a cure, but weıre keeping everything crossed that this is.² Mrs. Bingham, who lives with her three children and husband Richard, 42, an electronics engineer, in Cheltenham, said her son had been an active child who was walking at nine months. After becoming ill at the age of 2, he reverted to crawling.
After further attacks followed, specialists thought he was suffering from Guillain-Barre Syndrome, where the immune system attacks the nervous system. Since this could not be confirmed, Timothyıs condition was named Bingham Syndrome. Timothy was referred to Peter Clayton of the metabolic department at Great Ormond Street, and Mr. Clayton decided vitamin deficiency might be the problem.
The boy produced only small amounts of l-serine, stopping altogether when he ate less during illness. L-serine is an amino acid found in protein and helps impulses pass clearly through the nervous system.
Herbal Cancer Fighter?
Fast-spreading and often discovered late, pancreatic cancer is known to be particularly deadly. But a digestive remedy used in Indiaıs oldest healing tradition, Ayurveda, shows promise in halting the disease. Triphala, a blend of three herbs (amla, harada and bihara), caused pancreatic cancer cells in mice to die off, as reported in a recent University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute study. Triphala ³reduced the size of the tumors without causing any toxic side effects,² stated lead investigator Sanjay Srivastava, Ph. D. Human studies are needed, so at this time, triphala should be used for its traditional use. ³Itıs a nourishing formula, so itıs suitable for long-term use in regulating digestion,² says herbalist Steve Gomberg.
"These are examples of unique and urgent health news that you can only find in the Cheating Death book".
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