Japanese children are getting fatter – thus increasing their heart disease risk, researchers report today at the American Heart Association’s Second Annual Asia-Pacific Forum. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta showed that an increase in body fat is linked to a rise in cholesterol levels – which is occurring in both U.S. and Japanese children. Historically, children in Japan have been leaner than their Western counterparts.
From American Heart Association:Japanese kids gaining body fat, heart risks like Western counterparts
American Heart Association meeting report
HONOLULU, June 8 – Japanese children are getting fatter – thus increasing their heart disease risk, researchers report today at the American Heart Association’s Second Annual Asia-Pacific Forum.
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta showed that an increase in body fat is linked to a rise in cholesterol levels – which is occurring in both U.S. and Japanese children. Historically, children in Japan have been leaner than their Western counterparts.
Lead investigator Shifan Dai, M.D., Ph.D., of the Cardiovascular Health Branch of the CDC, presented data on Japanese children (170 girls and 199 boys ages 7-15) who were followed for up to four years. Researchers measured total cholesterol levels and took two measures of skin-fold thickness, one at the triceps and another at the supscapular area (just below the shoulder blades). They also estimated the body mass index of the children. Then they compared these children with Americans of similar ages who participated in Project HeartBeat!, a study that tracked lipid profiles, obesity and heart disease risk in childhood.
Dai reported that an increase in body fat was associated with an increase in total cholesterol and a decrease in high-density lipoprotein (HDL or “good”) cholesterol. A low-risk profile for heart disease would be a high HDL and a low total cholesterol. The findings show that it’s important that heart disease prevention and intervention measures, including maintaining a healthy body weight and lipid profile, start early in life, say the CDC researchers.
According to Dai, overweight and elevated blood cholesterol concentration track from childhood and adolescence to adulthood, meaning that children and adolescents who are overweight or have high cholesterol are more likely than their counterparts to have these risk factors as adults.
“Available pathological data show that atherosclerosis (fatty buildups in artery walls), the condition that leads to coronary heart disease and stroke, begins in childhood, and the extent of atherosclerosis in childhood and youth is associated with the same risk factors found in adults, including blood lipids and relative weight,” Dai says. “Thus, it is apparent that conditions like heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes are the results of a long-term interaction between the human body and unfavorable social and environmental conditions, adverse behavioral patterns, and major biological risk factors.”
The National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Blood Cholesterol in Children and Adolescents recommends selective screening for cholesterol in children over age 2 and adolescents with a family history of premature cardiovascular disease or at least one parent with high blood cholesterol. For children and adolescents whose parental or grandparental history is unobtainable, the Expert Panel recommends that physicians measure cholesterol levels, particularly in children with other risk factors such as overweight. The NCEP recommends eating a diet with no more than 30 percent calories from fat, fewer than 10 percent calories from saturated fatty acids, and fewer than 300 milligrams/day cholesterol, beginning at age 2.
“The panel indicated that about 30 percent of calories from fat can readily provide adequate calories for children over 2 years of age. An eating pattern that conforms with the recommendation generally meets or exceeds the recommended dietary allowances for all nutrients?and supports the normal growth and development,” Dai says.
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