The statement - "Obesity, Insulin Resistance, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Risk in Children" - was reported today at the American Heart Association's 43rd Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention.
The document details the scientific evidence that links risks factors in children to adult disease. It also urges physicians to be "vigilant for the subtle signs indicating the development of insulin resistance, glucose intolerance and type 2 diabetes," and direct "vigorous clinical efforts" to treat them.
Branches of the association that produced the statement were: the Atherosclerosis, Hypertension and Obesity in the Youth Committee of the Council on Cardiovascular Disease in the Young and the Diabetes Committee of the Council on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism. The American Diabetes Association also endorsed it.
"This statement is very important because the majority of disease and death in the Western world is due to heart disease and stroke," says Julia Steinberger, M.D., lead author of the statement. "Studies have consistently shown that the precursors of these conditions, including obesity and type 2 diabetes, begin in childhood."
As with many health problems in the Western world, a diet laden with fatty, fried and fast foods, coupled with a sedentary lifestyle, is to blame for the rise in obesity among children, says Steinberger, an assistant professor of pediatric cardiology at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Obesity, in turn, places one at risk for high cholesterol, high blood pressure and insulin resistance, a precursor of type 2 diabetes - the very factors that heighten one's risk of cardiovascular disease.
Statistics from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1988-1994 (NHANES III), indicated that 10 percent of children and adolescents in every age group and both genders, were overweight.
Co-author is Stephen R. Daniels, M.D., Ph.D.
The statement will be published in the March 18 print issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
CONTACT:
For information March 5-8 call
Carole Bullock or Darcy Spitz at the
Fontainebleau Hilton Resort in Miami
305-674-4740