From Your Health Journal…..”I always promote articles from the UK publication the Mail Online – to bring traffic to their site. They always impress me with their hard hitting, honest approach in their stories. Today’s article is called, Sorry, your child’s puppy fat isn’t cute: It could be a sign of trouble to come. The author starts by talking about ‘baby fat’ or ‘puppy fat’ – as most parents say, ‘they will lose this as they grow up.’ But, the sad truth, there are many health concerns for children right now, as many have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and even signs of the early stages of type 2 diabetes — a disease traditionally associated with overweight adults. One key line from the article is important to understand, as it states it is important to understand that while some obese children may suffer from obvious signs of unhealthiness, such as breathlessness or tiredness, many others don’t have other symptoms, yet are laying down problems for the future…..Please visit the Mail Online (link provided below) to read the complete article.”
From the article…..
Once upon a time, it was politely termed puppy fat — dismissed as something or nothing that children would naturally grow out of.
However, increasingly scientists believe being an overweight child is far more dangerous for future health than we previously thought.
It doesn’t seem surprising to learn that obese children are more likely to have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and even signs of the early stages of type 2 diabetes — a disease traditionally associated with overweight adults — as an authoritative review published in the British Medical Journal confirmed.
But, alarmingly, the review also found that children who are simply overweight, rather than obese, are similarly affected, although to a lesser extent.
‘Obese’ is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more, and ‘overweight’ as 25 to 30.
This is far from the first time the dangers of being overweight as a child have been highlighted.
Back in 1999, for example, a paper in the International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorder warned that the risk of cardiovascular disease and dying from any cause in adulthood was raised ‘among those who were overweight during childhood’.
‘What we don’t yet know is if being overweight as a child naturally leads to an increased risk of these things like cardiovascular disease,’ says
Professor Russell Viner, from University College Hospital, London.
‘My view is it probably does, but this leads to other questions we don’t yet know the answer to, such as: does losing the weight as a child reduce your risk and is there a particular age that is key?’
Around 13 per cent of four-year-olds are overweight (9 per cent are obese). The problem gets worse with age — by the time they leave primary school at 11, 14 per cent are overweight (19 per cent are obese).
Many parents may not realise their children are too heavy — various studies have found as many as 75 per cent of parents of overweight children underestimate their child’s weight.
‘There was a study two years ago that found 50 per cent of parents of obese children think their kids are “just right”,’ says Paul Gately, a professor of exercise and obesity at Leeds Metropolitan University.
To read the full article…..Click here