Exercise May Reverse
Heart Disease in Fat Kids

Many studies have shown that children across the industrialized world are getting fatter -- and that even toddlers are showing early signs of heart disease such as high cholesterol and the beginnings of clogged arteries.

But several researchers told a meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando that parents can safely do something about it.

In Britain, Canada and the United States, around 15 percent of children and adolescents are overweight or obese.

Daniel Green of the University of Western Australia tested 35 obese children aged 6 to 16.

In his study group the younger children weighed an average of 140 pounds (63 kg), versus 64 pounds (29 kg) for the average lean child in the same age group.

The teens were on average 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighed 212 pounds (96 kg), as compared to 126 pounds (57 kg) for average teens the same age.

He used a test of vascular endothelial function -- it looks at the inside of the blood vessels. "This is a test that detects the first development of atherosclerosis," Green told a news conference.

Many of the children already had unusual signs suggesting that they were in the early stages of arterial disease. Other studies have shown that such children go on to develop visible symptoms 30 to 40 years later.

WEIGHT TRAINING PROGRAM

For the teens, Green put together an eight-week weight training program. "Their total body weight didn't change," he said. But the children lost body fat and replaced it with lean muscle mass, measurements showed.

"In young children it is a little bit trickier because they don't want to push weights in a gym. They want to run around in a field," Green said. "It was essentially fun and games."

Both groups had tended to hang back in school physical education programs, but threw themselves wholeheartedly into Green's program, he said.

In both groups, total blood cholesterol levels did not change, but both groups had improved endothelial function.

After eight weeks of exercising three times a week for an hour each time, the children were allowed to go back to their sedentary ways. Two months later, Green tested their blood vessels again.

"The improvements we saw with exercise had reverted back," he said. "The bad news is you have to keep on doing it. The good news is it has a good effect."

Reference Source 89

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