14 DAY TRIAL // According to the conclusions of a new scientific study, it would appear that children who are obese at a young age are more likely to develop cardiometabolic problems and hypertension when they grow up.
The investigations that established this link were presented recently at a conference held by the European Society of Hypertension in London. The study was conducted by scientists based at the University of Western Australia, in Perth. They were coordinated by professor Lawrie Beilin.
In all, investigators tracked 1,186 kids from birth until they turned 14. Throughout the study period, the young ones had their obesity and blood pressure levels measured at regular intervals. The study then focused on the 32 percent of kids that displayed what experts called high-risk growth trajectories.
It was found that individuals in this group exhibited blood pressure changes that were very similar to those in the 40 percent of the adult population that is at risk of stroke. It was additionally found that these kids were at much higher risk of developing cardiometabolic disorders and hypertension.
“By following this group of children from birth to adolescence, we have shown that increasing fatness in the early years, particularly in the years from birth to 3 years of age, were associated with higher blood pressure and cardiovascular risk in later life,” Beilin explains.
What is interesting to note here is that this statistical correlation held regardless of the weight that the kids had at birth. If they displayed accelerated and sustained weight gain, the team said, these children started showing signs of increased blood pressure by the time they turned 3.
“This work shows that the way that the adiposity which children can accumulate in early life is something to be taken very seriously,” comments the Vice President of the European Society of Hypertension, professor Anna Dominiczak.
“It is likely that these Australian findings will be reflected by similar results in Europe and other developed countries. An overweight child has the risk of becoming an unhealthy adult,” adds the expert, quoted by AlphaGalileo.
According to international statistics, high blood pressure is the most significant, preventable risk factor for premature deaths. This implies that kids who gain a lot of weight after birth may then become part of that subset of the general population that is most predisposed to early death.