DALLAS, Aug. 11, 2016 – Proactive strategies for promoting good heart health should begin at birth, yet most American children do not meet the American Heart Association’s definition of ideal childhood cardiovascular health, according to a new scientific statement published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.
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Information from the National Health and Nutritions Examination Survey between 2007 and 2008 recorded that 91% of children did not score well on proper dietary measures. Children aged two to 19 got majority of their calories from simple carbohydrates such as sugary beverages and desserts.
“A primary reason for so few children having ideal cardiovascular health is poor nutrition”, statement author Dr. Julia Steinberger said in an association news release.
“If we don’t take good care of our children’s health, trying to implement these healthy lifestyle factors in adulthood will be extremely hard and the yield will be a lot lower”, she said. The recommendation for 60 or more minutes of exercise or vigorous play every day comes to pass for one-third of the girls and half of the boys under 12.
Note that unhealthy behaviors continued to rise in prevalence as children got older, and these behaviors had an impact on cardiovascular health markers. There are less than 1% of children, ages 2 to 19, who have a recommended diet score.
It is widely recognized that the development of childhood cardiovascular and metabolic disease risk factors and the consequent loss of cardiovascular health are enhanced in childhood in combination with weight gain and obesity.
However, blood pressure is “ideal” in about 90 percent of USA children and adolescents.
Dr. Steinberger mentioned that if healthy behaviors are followed from starting they provide huge benefit in maintaining idea health throughout the life.
A healthy heart in childhood can lead to a healthy life in later years, yet many children do not have an ideal heart health. Because their meals are mostly based on sugary foods and drinks, 91 percent of USA children have poor diets.
The biggest factor in less than ideal heart health is poor nutrition, with over 90% of Americans kids found to have unhealthy diets. Also having a healthy weight in relation to height (BMI – body mass index), not smoking and getting enough physical activity.
Not surprisingly, these behaviors had an impact on heart health markers too like blood pressure, blood cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Additionally, schools are an ideal place to get the message across to kids about the importance of heart health and what that entails.
Approximately one third of USA adolescents report at least trying cigarettes, and that rate was slightly higher for boys than girls, she and her colleagues found. Younger children exhibit the highest prevalence of ideal BMI, whereas adolescents show the lowest prevalence of ideal BMI. If dealt with early, it can eliminate poor health in later life. “Instead of taking a wait-and-see approach by treating disease later in adulthood, we should help children maintain the standards of ideal cardiovascular health that most children are born with”.
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“We thought there needed to be much more detail and refinement of those metrics”, she said.
