How Welsh Children As Young As 12 Are Already Eating Their Way to Heart Disease

Children as young as 12 are eating their way to heart disease, a disturbing new study has revealed. Latest Welsh research has revealed as many as four out of 10 girls and a third of boys on the verge of adolescence are showing the early signs of cardiovascular disease.

And experts have warned that unless the current childhood obesity trend – fuelled by children’s love of sugary and fatty food – is reversed, children can expect a future blighted by cardiovascular disease.

Dr Simon Williams, principal lecturer in health and exercise science at the University of Glamorgan, said, ‘These findings are essentially driven by obesity – I’m pretty sure that the increasing prevalence of obesity will undoubtedly increase the prevalence of metabolic syndrome.

‘If this is not dealt with it will lead to an increase in the incidence of cardiovascular disease.’

The findings follow the university’s study of 280 pupils, aged 12 and 13, at two schools in Carmarthenshire and the Cynon Valley, two years ago.

Early results had already revealed that many had the embryonic signs of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Professor Bruce Davies, of the university, said at the time, ‘If nothing is done for these children, by the time they are 30 they will have type 2 diabetes and by the time they are 50 they will have cardiovascular disease and will be undergoing bypass operations.’

The new results, which will be presented by Dr Williams at a conference in Berlin in April, concentrated on whether the pupils were showing early indicators associated with ‘metabolic syndrome’ – a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

Metabolic syndrome is a range of risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease, including high blood fat levels and low levels of ‘good’ HDL cholesterol.

Previous research in teenagers in the US has suggested that some 30% to 40% of young people are showing signs of the syndrome.

The University of Glamorgan tests revealed that 40% of girls and almost a third of boys had elevated levels of fat in their blood and 30% of girls and almost 40% of boys had low levels of ‘good’ cholesterol.

Dr Williams added, ‘The risk of cardiovascular disease associated with elevated blood fat levels is not as high as that of cholesterol and there may be some people who say this evidence is not as strong.

‘But when it is combined with low HDL cholesterol levels and glucose levels, we start to see a significant increased risk.’

Emyr Williams, spokesman for the British Heart Foundation in Wales, said, ‘Results like this are worrying and show that the ticking time bomb of children’s obesity needs to be defused before it’s too late.

‘It’s vital that we encourage young people to eat healthier food and get fit and active so that leading a healthy lifestyle is natural to them.

‘If they see the benefits from a healthy diet and regular exercise when they are young it will put them in a good position when they are older.

‘The British Heart Foundation is working hard to ensure today’s teenagers don’t become tomorrow’s heart attack victims, but we can’t achieve this alone.

‘We need to work closely with government departments, schools, health authorities, local authorities and parents to help us get the nation’s young people fit and active.’: Growth charts give breast- fed babies a thin time:Mothers may be creating a health timebomb by overfeeding their babies because recommendations about how much infants should grow are wrong, experts have claimed. Growth charts giving guidelines on how much children should weigh are based mainly on babies that have been fed formula milk. But using those standards, breast-fed babies can be judged as growing poorly from as young as two or three months when in fact they are perfectly healthy, research by the World Health Organisation published yesterday has found.

As a result, their mothers are often advised to supplement their diet with formula milk or even wean the child completely, causing them to miss out on the benefits of breast milk.

WHO found that target weights for two and three-year-olds were 15% to 20% too high.

And the flawed figures were said to a suggest healthy one-year- old weighs between 22.5lb and 28.5lb, when in fact the true healthy weight is 21lb to 26lb.

WHO will release new growth charts based on breast-fed babies at the end of the year, when it reveals the final findings of its six- year study into how more than 8,000 children across the world put on weight.