Obese Children Have Unhealthy Arteries

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - French researchers have discovered that obese children already show unhealthy changes in their arteries, including a loss of elasticity and normal functioning, which increases the risk of health problems later in life.

Although it can be very difficult to get youngsters to lose weight, unless more is done to help them shed pounds, the boom in childhood obesity could translate into a steep rise in heart disease and stroke-related illness in the adult population, according to the report.

In the study, Dr. Damien Bonnet of the Necker Enfants-Malades Teaching Hospital in Paris, France, and colleagues used ultrasound to look at the arteries of 48 severely obese children and compared the findings with the results from 27 normal weight children.

Overall, the investigators found that the obese children showed increased signs of poor artery health. Specifically, obese children had increased stiffness of their artery walls, and a general decline in function of the lining of their arteries, the authors explain in the October 27th issue of The Lancet.

This vascular dysfunction in children may be an early step in developing hardening of the arteries, a condition that increases the risk of heart attack and stroke, the report indicates.

The percentage of American children who are overweight or obese has swelled to such a level that public health officials call it an epidemic.

An estimated 13% of children aged 6 to 11 years and 14% of adolescents aged 12 to 19 years are now overweight, according to data from a 1999 nutrition survey. This represents a 2% to 3% increase over the overweight estimates obtained from an earlier survey, which ended in 1994, according to the CDC.

A child who has a body mass index (BMI) that is greater than 95% of their peers is considered obese and one who has a BMI greater than 85% of their peers is considered overweight. BMI is a measure of weight in relation to height.

SOURCE: The Lancet 2001;358:1400-1404.

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