From the ArcaMax Publishing, Health & Fitness Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/healthtips/s-346703-194411
COLUMBUS, Ohio (UPI) -- Obesity as a child or teen may affect the
vascular system and hurt heart health, a U.S. study says.
Specifically, the study linked obesity early in life to a
"dysfunction" in the single cell layer that lines all blood vessels
that may lead to the buildup of fatty deposits in the arteries that
increases the risk of heart attacks, stroke and congestive heart
failure.
"My colleagues in the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's and
I found that regardless of age, race or sex, obesity in children and
adolescents negatively impacts their endothelial function," study
presenter Dr. Judith Groner, a pediatrician in Ambulatory Pediatrics
at Nationwide Children's Hospital and The Ohio State University
College of Medicine in Columbus said in a statement.
"Considering the connection between endothelial function and heart
disease, this information is alarming given the high prevalence of
childhood and adolescent obesity in our country."
Data from a non-invasive technique called venous occlusion
plethysmography -- a measure of the responses of arm blood vessel
responses as a cuff halts and restarts blood flow -- was compared to
Body Mass Index. The study included 76 children between ages 9 and 18.
The findings were presented at the May Pediatric Academic Societies
and Asian Society for Pediatric Research Joint Meeting