Children are suffering damage to their hearts as early as 12 due to poor diets, a study has warned. Researchers found most people start life with robust heart health, but can lose it quickly through unhealthy eating habits. The American study showed few children under the age of 12 had an ideal diet and almost a third (30 per cent) were overweight or even obese. The researchers said the better equipped children are to make healthy choices, the healthier their hearts will be in adulthood. Study senior author Doctor Donald Lloyd-Jones, professor and chair of preventive medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, said: ‘Our findings indicate that, in general, children start with pretty good blood pressure. Scroll down for video. Scientists said the better equipped children are to make healthy food choices, the healthier their hearts would be in adulthood. They said few children under the age of 12 taking part had an ideal diet, and almost a third were overweight or even obese (file picture posed by model) ‘But if they have a horrible diet, it will drive a worsening body mass index (BMI) and cholesterol levels. ‘The better we can equip our children to make healthy choices, the more cardiovascular health will be preserved into adulthood. ‘And those who preserve their heart health into middle age live much longer and are much healthier while they live.’ Researchers examined BMI, healthy diet, total cholesterol and blood pressure – four of the seven components of heart health – in children aged two to 11. In the sample of 8,961 children, the researchers found that all children had at least one ideal measure, but none had all four. An ideal diet score was the least prevalent health indicator, with less than one per cent of children having four or five of the five components of a healthy diet. The experts warned people are losing a lot of 'intrinsic' heart health very early in life, setting them up to be unhealthy adults. The five indicators of a healthy diet include low intake of sugar-sweetened drinks and salt, and high intake of wholegrains, fish, plus fruit and vegetables. Fewer than 10 per cent ate the recommended amounts of fruit and veg of more than 4.5 cups or more per day or fish, and wholegrains were the least frequently achieved component with just three per cent of boys and 2.4 per cent of girls hitting the target. Ninety per cent ate more salt than recommended, and more than half consumed more than the recommended number of calories from sugar-sweetened drinks. Around four out of ten of the children had ‘poor’ or ‘intermediate’ cholesterol levels, according to the findings published in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. Researchers found ideal blood pressure was the most common favourable measure of cardiovascular health, ranging from 88 per cent to 93 per cent across sex and racial groups. Previous studies have shown worsening indicators of cardiovascular health, starting in adolescence and continuing through adulthood. Dr Lloyd-Jones added: ‘We really need better surveillance data, especially in children. ‘Information on physical activity, blood glucose and smoking or exposure to second-hand smoke are not available for younger children. ‘Without knowing how much physical activity a child is doing, and therefore how many calories are needed, we can’t scale the diet metrics to a child’s needs. ‘So we used the adult metrics, but understand that it would be difficult for a five-year-old to take in as many fruits and vegetables as an adult. ‘The bottom line is that we need even better data, but what we do see is that we are losing an awful lot of our intrinsic cardiovascular health very early in life, which sets us up to be unhealthy adults.’
What are the important parts of this article?
Most people start life with robust heart health, but can lose it quickly.
US study showed few children under 12 had an ideal diet, third were obese.
Experts said the better equipped children are to make healthy choices, the healthier their hearts will be as adults.
Barn lider så tidigt som 12 år av hjärtskador på grund av dålig kosthållning, har en studie varnat dem. Forskare fann de flesta människor börja livet med robust hjärthälsa, men kan förlora det snabbt genom ohälsosamma matvanor. Den amerikanska studien visade att få barn under 12 år hade en idealisk diet och nästan en tredjedel (30 procent) var överviktiga eller till och med feta. Forskarna sade att de bättre utrustade barnen är att göra hälsosamma val, ju friskare deras hjärtan kommer att vara i vuxen ålder. Studieöverförfattaren Doctor Donald Lloyd-Jones, professor och ordförande i förebyggande medicin vid Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine i Chicago, sade: ”Våra resultat tyder på att barn i allmänhet börjar med ganska bra blodtryck. Scrolla ner för video. Forskare sade att de bättre utrustade barnen är att göra hälsosamma matval, ju friskare deras hjärtan skulle vara i vuxen ålder. De sade att få barn under 12 år som deltog hade en idealisk kost, och nästan en tredjedel var överviktiga eller till och med feta (fil bild som är framställd av modell) “Men om de har en hemsk kost, kommer det att driva en försämring av kroppsmasseindex (BMI) och kolesterolnivåer. – Ju bättre vi kan rusta våra barn för att göra hälsosamma val, desto mer kardiovaskulär hälsa kommer att bevaras i vuxen ålder. – Och de som bevarar sin hjärthälsa in i medelåldern lever mycket längre och är mycket friskare medan de lever. Forskare undersökte BMI, hälsosam kost, totalkolesterol och blodtryck – fyra av de sju komponenterna i hjärthälsan – hos barn i åldern två till 11 år. I provet på 8 961 barn fann forskarna att alla barn hade minst ett idealiskt mått, men ingen hade alla fyra. En idealisk kostpoäng var den minst förekommande hälsoindikatorn, där mindre än en procent av barnen hade fyra eller fem av de fem komponenterna i en hälsosam kost. Experterna varnade för att människor förlorar en hel del "intrinsic" hjärtehälsa mycket tidigt i livet, vilket gör dem att vara ohälsosamma vuxna. De fem indikatorerna på en hälsosam kost inkluderar lågt intag av sockersötade drycker och salt, och högt intag av fullkorn, fisk, plus frukt och grönsaker. Färre än 10 procent åt de rekommenderade frukt- och grönsaksmängderna på mer än 4,5 koppar per dag eller fisk, och fullkorn var den minst frekventa komponenten med bara tre procent av pojkarna och 2,4 procent av flickorna som träffade målet. Nittio procent åt mer salt än rekommenderat, och mer än hälften konsumerade mer än det rekommenderade antalet kalorier från sockersötade drycker. Omkring fyra av tio av barnen hade ”fattiga” eller ”mellanliggande” kolesterolnivåer, enligt de resultat som publicerades i tidskriften Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. Forskarna fann att idealt blodtryck var det vanligaste gynnsamma måttet på hjärt- och kärlhälsa, från 88 procent till 93 procent mellan kön och ras. Tidigare studier har visat försämrade indikatorer på kardiovaskulär hälsa, med början i tonåren och fortsatt genom vuxen ålder. Dr Lloyd-Jones tillade: ”Vi behöver verkligen bättre övervakningsdata, särskilt hos barn. ”Information om fysisk aktivitet, blodglukos och rökning eller exponering för begagnad rök finns inte tillgänglig för yngre barn. – Utan att veta hur mycket fysisk aktivitet ett barn gör, och därför hur många kalorier som behövs, kan vi inte skala upp kostmåtten efter ett barns behov. – Så vi använde de vuxna mätvärdena, men förstår att det skulle vara svårt för en femåring att ta in lika många frukter och grönsaker som en vuxen. – Slutsatsen är att vi behöver ännu bättre data, men vad vi ser är att vi förlorar en hel del av vår inneboende kardiovaskulära hälsa mycket tidigt i livet, vilket gör oss till ohälsosamma vuxna. Vilka är de viktiga delarna av den här artikeln?
Children suffer as early as 12 years of heart damage due to poor diet, a study has warned them. Researchers found most people begin life with robust heart health, but can lose it quickly through unhealthy eating habits. The American study showed that few children under 12 years of age had an ideal diet and almost a third (30 percent) were overweight or even obese. The researchers said that the better equipped children are to make healthy choices, the healthier their hearts will be in adulthood. Study overwriter Doctor Donald Lloyd-Jones, professor and chairman of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, said: “Our results indicate that children generally start with fairly good blood pressure. Scroll down for video. Researchers said that the better equipped children are to make healthy food choices, the healthier their hearts would be in adulthood. They said that having children under the age of 12 who participated had an ideal diet, and almost a third were overweight or even obese (file picture produced by model) “But if they have a terrible diet, it will drive a deterioration of body mass index (BMI) and cholesterol levels. “The better we can equip our children to make healthy choices, the more cardiovascular health will be preserved in adulthood. “And those who maintain their heart health into the middle age live much longer and are much healthier while they are alive. Researchers examined BMI, healthy diet, total cholesterol and blood pressure – four of the seven components of heart health – in children aged two to 11 years. In the 8,961 child test, the researchers found that all children had at least one ideal measure, but none had all four. An ideal dietary score was the least common health indicator, where less than one percent of children had four or five of the five components of a healthy diet. The experts warned that people lose a lot of "intrinsic" heart health very early in life, making them to be unhealthy adults. The five indicators on a healthy diet include low intake of sugar-sweetened drinks and salt, and high intake of whole grains, fish, plus fruit and vegetables. Less than 10% for the recommended quantities of fruit and vegetables of more than 4.5 cups per day or fish, and whole grains were the least frequent component with just three percent of boys and 2.4 percent of girls hitting the target. Ninety percent ate more salt than recommended, and more than half consumed more than the recommended number of calories from sugar - sweetened drinks. About four out of ten of the children had ‘poor’ or ‘intermediate’ cholesterol levels, according to the results published in Circulation magazine: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. The researchers found that ideal blood pressure was the most common favorable measure of cardiovascular health, from 88 percent to 93 percent between gender and race. Previous studies have shown worsening indicators of cardiovascular health, starting in adolescence and continuing through adulthood. Dr. Lloyd-Jones added: “We really need better surveillance data, especially in children. ‘Information on physical activity, blood glucose and smoking or exposure to second-hand smoke is not available for young children. “Without knowing how much physical activity a child does, and therefore how many calories are needed, we cannot scale up the dietary measures according to a child’s needs. “So we used the adult readings, but understand that it would be difficult for a five-year-old to bring in as many fruits and vegetables as an adult. “The conclusion is that we need even better data, but what we see is that we lose a lot of our inherent cardiovascular health very early in life, making us unhealthy adults. What are the important parts of this article?
De flesta människor börjar livet med robust hjärthälsa, men kan förlora det snabbt. USA-studien visade att få barn under 12 år hade en idealisk diet, tredje var feta. Experter sade att de bättre utrustade barn är att göra hälsosamma val, ju friskare deras hjärtan kommer att vara som vuxna.
Most people start life with robust heart health, but can lose it quickly. The US study showed that few children under 12 years of age had an ideal diet, third were obese. Experts said that the better equipped children are to make healthy choices, the healthier their hearts will be like adults.