Re: Children's belly fat increases more than 65 percent since 1990s

William Wagner wrote:
> http://www.eurekalert.org/
>
> Public release date: 6-Nov-2006
>
> Contact: Heather Hare
> heather_hare@urmc.rochester.edu
> 585-273-2840
> University of Rochester Medical Center
>
> Children's belly fat increases more than 65 percent since 1990s
> Waist circumference predicts health issues more accurately than BMI
> Abdominal obesity increased more than 65 percent among boys and almost
> 70 percent among girls between 1988 and 2004. The finding of growing
> girth is significant because abdominal obesity has emerged as a better
> predictor of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes risk than the
> more commonly used Body Mass Index, a weight to height ratio that can
> sometimes be misleading.

Indeed, there is growing evidence that visceral adipose tissue (VAT) is
the proximate cause of metabolic syndrome (MetS) that is the precursor
for type-2 diabetes.

> As the first nationally representative study to document the increase in
> children's belly fat, the study in today's Pediatrics paints a bleak
> picture for these children who have a higher risk of heart disease,
> adult-onset diabetes and metabolic syndrome. The good news is that, for
> children and adolescents, the health effects are often reversible
> through improved lifestyle for weight loss.

For adults too, thankfully:

http://HeartMDPhD.com/HolySpirit/overweight.asp

> "Kids, teens and adults who have early stages of atherosclerosis in
> their arteries can have a healthy cardiovascular system again," said
> Stephen Cook, M.D., an assistant professor of Pediatrics at the
> University of Rochester Medical Center's Golisano Children's Hospital at
> Strong and an author of the study about childhood abdominal obesity.
> "Older adults who have plaque build up have a much harder battle,
> especially if the plaque has calcified."
> Measuring waist circumference is not a "vital sign" normally taken in a
> visit to the doctor. A BMI is commonly calculated at a well visit, but
> there are limitations to those measurements. A very muscular person may
> register a high BMI score, even if he is very healthy and has an average
> waist circumference. On the flip side, a sedentary child may not
> register a very high BMI score, but if he carries a lot of fat around
> his middle, he may be at a higher risk for health problems than other
> children with the same BMI score.
> Cook said there is no gold standard yet for how waist circumference
> should be measured and no consensus yet on the cut-off point for
> abdominal obesity. However, he added, the study should be a warning for
> physicians and parents to limit sedentary activities, such as TV and
> computer time, and to teach and model healthy eating and exercise
> behaviors; childhood obesity is a serious and growing problem * perhaps
> even more than people already believe.
> Although increases in Body Mass Index scores have raised concerns about
> U.S. children's short- and long-term health, the increase in the
> percentage of abdominally obese in children appears to have increased
> even faster than overweight measured by BMI scores. According to data
> from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
> between 1999 and 2004, the percentage of 6- to 11 year-old children with
> high BMI scores rose about 25 percent (15.1 percent in 1999-2000 to 18.8
> percent in 2003-04). But the increase in abdominal obesity of the same
> group over the same period was even more dramatic, more than 35 percent
> (14.2 percent in 1999-2000 to 19.2 percent in 2003-04).
> "Those increases only grow more alarming as you tease out specific age
> groups over longer periods of time," Cook said. "For example, between
> the 1988-1994 data and the 1999-2004 data, the largest relative increase
> in the prevalence of abdominal obesity occurred among 2- to 5-year old
> boys * 84 percent * and 18- to 19-year-old girls * 126 percent."

Suggested reading:

http://groups.google.com/group/sci.m...546a7bf4a81ee?

May GOD continue to heal our hearts with HIS living water, dear Bill
whom I love unconditionally.

Prayerfully in Christ's amazing love,

Andrew <><
--
Andrew B. Chung
Cardiologist, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
http://HeartMDPhD.com/HolySpirit

As for knowing who are the very elect, these you will know by the
unconditional love they have for everyone including their enemies
(Matthew 5:44-45, 1 Corinthians 13:3, James 2:14-17).
http://HeartMDPhD.com/Love