Fat Finds and Affects Younger Populations...

Here at Movement of the Mind, I like to learn how health affects our lives and how precious our own health is.  With information, we cultivate habits, that will hopefully progress us towards healthier lives.  It is my firm believe that what the mind suggests the body will comply with.  So this week I wanted to share an article I read dealing with obesity and cardio-vasculature disease (CVD)in children.  This article came out of the University of Miami Medical School with the hopes of addressing pediatric obesity in correlation with chronic disease.  I found this interesting, but wanted to think about this in a more critical manner as to further understand why we struggle with this.  As not to beat the dead horse of obesity more, lets get into the article.  Sarah Messiah the lead author in this paper states that, "There's clearly a link between weight and cardiovascular risk", she goes on to draw correlations to the increasing weight gain of children in the research culled from 1999-2008.  Messiah poses the argument that children as young as three years old should be screened for chronic illness like cardio-vascular disease.  As mentioned regarding many chronic disease race, gender and ethnicity play large roles in the matter, as African american and Hispanic children and girls are all more prone to these risk factors than their caucasian counterparts. 


So here is my thought on the matter, as a student of Global Health, I've learned that there are so many factors to health than meets the eye.  For example, a impoverished Hispanic family that eats poorly could be a result of access rather than cost.  Poor health lifestyles (diet and exercise) are more closely associated with lack education than inept habits.  Can it be said, that obesity is bringing on this risk of CVD?  There is research that supports that plaque build up is increased in populations that have poor diets and/or smoke.  Obesity is a strong correlation, but is not causation for this deadly disease.  As we further understand CVD and its affects on our vasculature system, we can ask better questions about how our foods and environments affect our health.  So, could pollution, or stress or the lack of essential nutrients be just as viable a culprit as obesity?  


I find that the issue with diagnosing children who have weight problems with chronic disease is that we are introducing prescription drugs to such a young population and can create harmful and/or damaging effects that could be long lasting.  Though I do agree that pediatric obesity is a serious issue and is continuing to rise, we must look at preventative measures before pharmaceuticals are introduced. 


Heart disease is the lead cause of death in the U.S., so I understand why the emphasis to look for it as early as possible is necessary.  If we look at households with history of CVD and also households that are obese can we prescreen these children and find other factors that may be common (like demographic, ethnicity, diet, activity level, presence of smoking, social stressors and LDL levels) and unearth more indicators that can help reduce those affected by CVD.  


That's what I think, I'd love to hear and learn from you.....  


Thanks!