Excess body fat 'harmful' to young

"Excess body fat 'harmful' to young", Daily Mail, September 19, 2005,
Link:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...page_id =1797

Excess body fat during childhood may be harmful to the heart, even if
youngsters do not appear overweight or obese, researchers have said.

A team from St George's Hospital Medical School in south London looked
at the adiposity - the amount of fat - in the body tissue of almost 500
children aged 13 to 15. They also measured the elasticity of their
blood vessels - known as distensibility.

They found that adiposity was strongly linked with reduced blood vessel
distensibility, which is an early indication of cardiovascular disease.

The study found that in the young teenagers, excess fat was more
strongly linked with a reduction in the elasticity of blood vessels
than was cholesterol and other blood fats.

The research suggests that even a little extra body fat may be damaging
for youngsters.

In the past the classic heart disease risk factors such as high
cholesterol and high blood pressure were uncommon in children, but an
epidemic of childhood obesity in Western countries, including the UK,
has seen an increase in the associated risk factors.

The researchers from St George's wanted to study levels of body fat and
problems linked with excess fat with the function of the arteries.

A total of 471 youngsters were tested for factors such as blood
pressure, insulin levels and skin-fold thickness.

The researchers, writing in the journal Circulation, said that the
effects of adiposity on the blood vessels occurred at fat levels well
below those considered to represent obesity.

Lead researcher Dr Whincup said: "These observations emphasise the
importance of population-wide strategies to reduce childhood adiposity
by a combination of changes in diet and physical activity."