Childhood Obesity - Do you have an overweight child? We offer tips to help your child lose weight and get fit!

The My Overweight Child blog will help you keep informed about the latest research, findings, and resources available to parents of overweight or obese kids. There are many knowledgeable people working on the increasingly dire problem of childhood obesity - and we want to give parents a place where they can check in regularly to see the latest studies and tips available to help you help your child lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

We invite you to add your comments - if you have feedback for the blog, would like some specific topics covered, or you just want to share your experience as a parent dealing with childhood obesity.

Monday, March 01, 2010

Obese Youth as Young as 3 Have Markers for Heart Disease

Obese children as young as three years old have health markers linked to developing heart disease as adults, according to a new article in the journal Pediatrics.

Researchers from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine looked for three markers that measure inflammation in more than 16,000 children ages 1 to 17 years old.
About 60 percent of the obese teenagers in the study showed elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) compared to 18% of teenagers with normal weight.
The very obese children were even more likely to show elevated levels.

Very little is known about CRP levels in children, but Dr. Ashley Skinner, author of the study, believes that elevated levels are probably a predictor of heart disease in adulthood.

"It's really important to be concerned about childhood obesity and to even be concerned when they are quite young," she said." We can't wait until they are adolescents or adults."

Labels: heart_disease, infant, toddlers

Friday, July 10, 2009

Overweight Teen Boys Show Signs of Early Heart Trouble

Overweight male teens are showing signs of heart disease even though they have normal blood pressure, according to a study from the Medical College of Georgia.

Researchers studied 126 boys ages 15 to 17 years old. Those who were overweight had elevated levels of aldosterone, a hormone associated with heart disease, even though they did not necessarily have elevated blood pressure.

Dr. Dayal D. Raja said that this study might indicate that certain boys should receive early treatment and intervention, especially if they have a family history of heart disease.

Dr. Raja presented his study in May during the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists' 18th Annual Meeting and Clinical Congress in Houston.

Labels: boys, heart_disease, overweight children, teens

Monday, June 29, 2009

Overweight Kids at Increased Risk for Pancreatic Cancer, Heart Disease

Overweight and obese youth are at greater risk for two serious diseases -- pancreatic cancer and cardiovascular disease -- according to two new studies.

The first study compared the childhood weights of 841 pancreatic cancer patients to 754 healthy people:

Those who were overweight from ages 14 to 39 years old were 67 percent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer.
People who were overweight between ages 20 to 49 years old increased their risk by 2.5 times.
This study appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The second study was from The Nemours Children's Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida.

Dr. Nelly Mauras and her colleagues found that obese children as young as seven years old were at higher risk for future cardiovascular disease and stroke.
They compared 115 obese children to 87 lean children, all of whom had normal fasting blood sugar levels, normal blood pressure, and normal cholesterol levels.
The obese children had elevated levels of certain proteins and other markers for cardiovascular disease

The old thinking was that cardiovascular disease is associated with a cluster of symptoms called metabolic syndrome. These symptoms include high blood pressure, high levels of bad cholesterol, low levels of good cholesterol, and high blood glucose.

Dr. Mauras and her team wanted to know if obesity could raise cardiovascular disease risk before metabolic old syndrome develops. "The results were striking because the children were entirely healthy otherwise," she said while presenting the study during the annual meeting of The Endocrine Society.

Labels: cancer, heart_disease, overweight children, research

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

One in Three 14-Year-Olds at Risk for Heart Disease

An Australian study of 1,000 14-year-olds found that almost one in three is at risk for heart disease. Many of the children who had risk factors for heart disease were not overweight.

Researchers from the University of Western Australia and Perth's Telethon Institute for Child Health Research set out to identify risk factors from measures of blood pressure, weight, and levels of insulin, blood glucose, and cholesterol.

The researchers plan to reassess the children when they are 18 years old.

This study appeared in the Diabetes Care Journal.

Labels: health_risks, heart_disease, teenagers

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Teenage Obesity May Lead to Premature Heart Attacks

A new study from the University of Missouri indicates that obese children as young as 13 years old are developing signs of heart disease not usually seen until age 45.

Dr. Geetha Raghuveer, a professor at Missouri's School of Medicine, used ultrasound techniques to detect changes in the neck arteries of 70 obese children and teenagers. She had to match the children's arteries to those of 45 year-olds to develop accurate comparisons. She said "vascular age" is very different from chronological age, and there was no way of knowing if the children's abnormal cholesterol would continue to build up or plateau.

This study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association.

Children More Likely to Eat Whole Grains if Introduced Gradually

The key to making children and preteens eat whole grain bread may be to introduce it gradually, according to a new study from the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Len Marquart and his colleagues studied the amounts of bread that students in grades kindergarten through sixth threw away over the course of a school year as they gradually added more whole grains to the breads. The students did not throw away significantly more bread once it reached 70 percent whole grain.

This study appears in the Journal of Child Nutrition and Management.

Labels: heart_disease, teenagers

Monday, September 22, 2008

Color Your Meals Naturally

The value of eating fruits and vegetables has been touted for generations. But new scientific research is finding that fruits and vegetables are more than just an excellent source of vitamins.

"We've moved beyond seeing fruits and vegetables as rich sources of essential vitamins and now are beginning to understand the roles and complexity of compounds such as antioxidants and the literally hundreds of phytochemicals that interact to influence health and nutrition."

Antioxidants protect the body against "free radicals," harmful molecules that are linked to higher rates of cancer, heart disease, and other illnesses. Source: Enid News & Eagle (OK)

Labels: healthy_eating, heart_disease, nutrition

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Teen Obesity Tied to Death Risks in Middle Age

Researchers have found that obese teenagers are far more likely to die of heart disease and other illnesses than teens that are at a healthy weight. The study followed more than 200,000 Norwegians from adolescence through middle age.

"Study participants who were obese as teenagers... tended to remain obese into adulthood. Obesity later in life has long been implicated as a risk factor for type 2 diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers...whereas the long-term effects of childhood obesity are uncertain."

The study found long-term health risks not only for heart disease, but also colon cancer and respiratory diseases. Source: National Institutes of Health

Labels: heart_disease, obesity_rates

Monday, December 31, 2007

Risks Associated with Obesity

Several recent studies have found that childhood obesity increases a person's risk for serious heart issues as an adult. It's estimated that heart disease could increase by as much as 16% once today's teenagers reach adulthood.

"According to an interview conducted by KATU News, 'We've simply never had a generation that's been this heavy from so early in life. The consequences of that are unprecedented and unknown,' said Dr. David Ludwig, director of an obesity program at Children's Hospital Boston. He says that the results of these two studies may be underestimating the future health issues that may result from the weight problems this generation is struggling with."

An estimated 1/3 of US children are overweight or obese, leading to an increase in the diagnosis of things like type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.

Labels: heart_disease, research, studies

Monday, November 26, 2007

High Blood Pressure Undiagnosed in Children and Teens

A recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that most cases of hypertension in children and teens are going undiagnosed. Hypertension has become more prevalent due to the dramatic rise in childhood obesity.

"The study reported that of 507 children and adolescents with hypertension, just 131 had a diagnosis of that condition or high blood pressure in the medical records. The study also found that if a pediatrician did not recognize the problem, it would be years before it was diagnosed and treated, resulting in unnecessary end-organ damage."

Because children who are overweight or obese are especially at risk for high blood pressure, it should be checked at every doctor's office visit.

Labels: health_care, heart_disease, hypertension

Monday, October 01, 2007

Obesity Increases Risk of Heart Disease

Researchers have found that children as young as eight-years-old who are overweight or obese are seven times more like to be at risk for heart disease when they're teenagers. Risks like high-blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and elevated blood sugar were found in overweight or obese children who were just 15-years-old.

"The current results also suggest that doctors need only measure children's weight and height, and not their waistline, to get a good picture of their future heart risks. Childhood body mass index (BMI) - a measure of weight in relation to height - was more strongly related to future cardiac risk factors than waist circumference was."

The findings, which were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, were based on observations of 172 children who had their BMI and waistline information documented at age eight, and then again at age fifteen. At fifteen, the children were also assessed for heart disease risk factors.

Labels: blood_pressure, heart_disease, pediatricians

Monday, August 20, 2007

Risk of Heart Disease, Strokes Associated more with Weight than Genes

A recent study lead by Professor John Morrison at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center shows that overweight children with high cholesterol, blood pressure and sugar levels are at an increased risk for heart disease or strokes.

"But losing weight significantly lowered health risks. 'This indicates [the risk of heart disease and stroke are] not hard-wired. Some clearly are more susceptible, but susceptibility isn't the same as inevitability,' says William Dietz, who heads the division of nutrition, physical activity and obesity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

The condition that Morrison studied is called pediatric metabolic syndrome, and is indicated by the presence of at three of the following factors: excess weight, low HDL (the good cholesterol), high triglycerides, high blood pressure and high blood sugar levels. Morrison found that weight was the key driver of the condition. Read more at LangingStateJournal.com.

While being overweight or obese isn't healthy, neither is teenage drug addiction. Learn what signs to look for at Adolescent-Substance-Abuse.com.

Labels: genetics, health_risks, heart_disease