Overweight girls found to be at risk for cardiovascular disease

The National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute Growth and Health Study named "Childhood Overweight and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors” was funded by the NHLBI, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and included more than 2,300 girls aged 9 and 10 out of 1166 were Caucasians and 1213 African-American girls. They followed the girls’ for more than ten years for their height, weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol annually.

The study suggested that overweight girls at the age of 9 were at increased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases like hypertension, high cholesterol, triglyceride and fasting insulin levels.

The study found that the girls who were overweight in childhood were 11 to 30 times more likely than non-overweight girls to be obese in young adulthood. The blood pressure and cholesterol levels increased gradually, year by year, in the overweight groups.
Overweight adolescents have a 70% chance of becoming overweight or obese adults and the number increases to 80% if one or more parent is overweight or obese.

The difference was spotted between white and black girls. While the white girls’ prevalence of overweight was 7 % at age 9 to 10 % at age 18, the overweight prevalence in black girls was 17 % at age 9 and 24 % at age 18.

The study shows that obesity and other risk factors for heart disease track from younger to older and that everybody, policymakers, schools and parents should concentrate on prevention rather than on treatment as the success rate for treatment is close to zero.

Great and interesting news.

Now, what are some recommended methods for prevention of obesity? I think that it is becoming a national crisis in the U.S.

And a parallel thought/opinion. Obesity seems to be a common trait among self-content rulers. Think about Rome, or about Henry VI, or even Louis XIV...big dudes, no? Antiquity shows us that when people come into power, they become complacent and lazy. It's just human nature to take the easier road.

I think that comfort has become a #1 value in America and that people may riot if this is taken away. However, austerity and sacrifice may be the cures for obesity. Self-control has been long forgotten in the States and is now being inherited from generation to generation.