Teen Obesity

The American Heart Association's warning that more children than ever are heading toward heart trouble is primarily due to the nation's childhood and teen obesity epidemic. About 1 million children between 12 and 19 years old, or about 4.2 percent, now have metabolic syndrome, an umbrella term for a host of controllable risk factors such as abnormal blood lipids, high blood sugar, high blood pressure and overweight or obesity.

In addition, overweight teens are beginning to be seen with insulin resistance, a condition that had previously been relegated only to adults. The fact that insulin resistance was already at work in overweight teens was reported last October.

Teenage & Childhood Obesity is No Laughing Matter

In view of the widely reported epidemic of childhood and teen obesity, the association of "baby fat" with serious illness portends a grim future for America's children.

Insulin resistance accounts for many of the serious side effects of obesity, including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and the effects of bad cholesterol (LDL), which can all lead to heart disease. Diabetes, which can make heart disease worse, has its own set of complications, such as blindness and amputations.

More than 60 million Americans have insulin resistance. One in four of them will develop type 2 diabetes.

In a study of 357 healthy children in Minneapolis school system whose average age was 13 when the research began, an extra rise for each unit of insulin resistance and another boost for each unit increase in body mass index, the standard measurement of obesity, was found.

Preventing Diseases Starts In the Teenage Years

The key to preventing high blood pressure is to start thinking about it in childhood. By the time people are in their 20s and 30s, a lot of the risk is already set.

The link between insulin resistance and overweight teens is a new addition in the campaign by some heart researchers to tie the start of coronary heart disease to dietary habits in children as young as 3. Grossly visible fatty streaks have been found in the aortas of children after age 3 and in the coronary arteries beginning after age 10.