Study: Heavy children are at risk for bad arterties

In the last post, we discussed the importance of maintaining good cholesterol. I also wanted to point out that overweight and sedentary children are even at a higher risk of having heart disease as adults.

US researchers found that children with more body fat and less endurance than their fitter, leaner counterparts have stiffer arteries at a young age. Stiff arteries are a hallmark of atherosclerosis, a typically adult condition in which blood vessels become clogged. Identifying these children early will help us implement preventive measures.

Next time you visit your pediatrician, make sure you talk about heart health.

Read more: Study: Heavy children at risk for bad arteries - Atlanta Business Chronicle (4/16/2010)

C is for Cholesterol

My husband is an interventional cardiologist who is on-call for Howard County Hospital’s Heart Attack Team every Tuesday evening. We often get wake-up calls in the middle of the night about a patient with chest pain. My husband rushes to the hospital when there is a heart attack. Time is critical when it comes to opening up the clogged arteries that bring blood to the heart. It’s a true emergency. Someone in America dies every 37 seconds from some form of cardiovascular disease.


Since I am also awoken in the middle of the night, I wonder, “What has caused that patient’s arteries to clog?” My goal is to get to the root of the problem before it has time to grow. I want my patients to grow up healthy and never have to be faced with a heart attack.

Thanks to many studies and thousands of patients, researchers have found certain risk factors that play an important role in a person's chances of developing heart disease. Some risk factors can be changed, treated, or modified, and some cannot. One of those risk factors for having heart disease is having high cholesterol.

What is cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a fat-like substance (lipid) that is found in all body cells. Your liver makes cholesterol. We also can get cholesterol from the foods we eat such as meat, fish, eggs, butter, cheese and milk. We need some cholesterol to help our brain, skin, and other organs grow and do their jobs well. There are two main types of cholesterol: HDL and LDL.

LDL cholesterol is more likely to clog blood vessels because it carries the cholesterol away from the liver into the bloodstream, where it can stick to the blood vessels. LDL is also known as “lousy cholesterol”. 

HDL cholesterol, on the other hand, carries the cholesterol back to the liver where it is broken down. HDL is know as "healthy cholesterol". When your HDL cholesterol is high, it's actually good for your health.


When should children have their cholesterol checked?

Screening should take place after age two but no later than age 10, if your child is at risk.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) considers the problem serious enough to have issued recommendations to help parents and physicians identify children potentially at risk for problems with high cholesterol. The recommendations target children and adolescents who have:

• a family history of premature cardiovascular disease

• at least one parent with a high blood cholesterol level

• other factors for heart disease including obesity, high blood pressure or diabetes

Like most things, cholesterol levels are different for kids, so make sure you discuss those numbers with your pediatrician.

Helpful Tips

If you don’t know your family’s health history, have the child’s cholesterol level checked between 2-10 years of age.

If a child's fasting cholesterol profile is normal, then it should be repeated every three to five years.

If a child is found to have high cholesterol, his or her physician will likely recommend treating the problem with a combination of diet management and physical activity. If a problem is severe enough, medications may be used to lower the cholesterol.

To help your family have healthy cholesterol levels, have a Heart Healthy Diet, one that is low in cholesterol and saturated fat.


Let’s help our children stay away as far as possible from heart disease: keep their blood flowing freely through their arteries by having a Heart Healthy Diet and staying physically active together.

B is for Books

Next week is an important week for me both as a pediatrician as well as a parent. Week of the Young Child starts April 11^th-17^th and this year’s theme is Early Years are Learning Years. In its report, “Becoming a Nation of Readers”, The National Commission on Reading states:

“The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success is reading aloud to children.”

Sometimes reading to a young child can be frustrating. They may not sit for very long and seem not to understand, however it does pay off later. When I first started reading to my son, he had a very short attention span. He explored his books by eating them. I wondered if he was really interested in reading. My surprise came when he was 11 months old and he handed me a picture book from his bookcase. He pointed to a brightly colored object and said, “Ball”. This was his first word and a moment I will never forget. 

A Book for Every Child

Each child has their own type of book according to their age and level of development.

Infants

By six months of age, your baby should be able to sit with support and this is a good time to start reading to your child. For infants, look for durable “board” books (the kind with hard pages) with pictures of familiar objects and patterns with strong colors. Tip: They love baby faces. Reading suggestion: Baby Faces™ Series by Scholastic.

Toddlers

Because toddlers are starting to form short sentences, they love rhymes and repetitive phrases that they can expect and repeat also. At this age, especially, they may not sit for very long but keep trying everyday. Tip: They love routines and repetition. Reading suggestion: Hush! by Minfong Ho (Scholastic).

Preschoolers

Preschoolers usually like books about kids of their age, making friends and going to school. Exposing preschoolers to books before they start kindergarten is extremely important. Studies have shown that if a child is not a good reader by the end of 1^st grade, the chances of them catching up by 12^th grade are very low. Tip: They love to imagine and listen to silly stories. Ask them if something is silly and why. Reading suggestion: Silly Sally by Audrey Wood (Harcourt/Red Wagon).

How do I choose the right books? Every child has their own favorite kind of book-our job is to find it and nurture it.  An individual child may like classic children’s books while another child may simple enjoy reading about animals and nature. Make use of the professionals in your community to offer suggestions.

Tip: Booksellers, librarians, and teachers are always delighted to assist in the task of finding books for children.

Books, especially for children, are meant to encourage a joy in reading. Snuggling with your baby as you look at the picture books teaches her to associate reading with comfort. As your child grows, she will start pointing and associating pictures with words. As her coordination improves, she will start making marks on the page, a critical stage in reading readiness. By age 5 to 6 years old, you will be reading chapter books and she will be sounding words of her own. It’s a wonderful journey to take along with your child. 

Remember These Three Little Tips…

1^st Tip: When you begin reading aloud to a baby, you will only be able to keep your baby's attention for a few minutes. That's normal.

2^nd Tip: As children grow up and their attention span increases, they like longer stories.

3^rd Tip: Doctor’s Prescription Reading – At least one dose of reading for 20 minutes every day.

Let’s make a commitment to read with our children. April 12^th is the National Drop Everything and Read Day (D.E.A.R). I am going to tell all my patients and everyone in my family to “Drop Everything and Read!” not just on April 12^th but everyday! You can read anywhere: at home, at the park, waiting to pick up mom or dad at the metro. If you want to make April 12^th a more special reading day, go to the library or bookstore. Any way you do it, your child will remember it and thank you.

P.S. If you want to make a pledge to read aloud to your child,  check out Mem Fox's ten commandments of reading aloud. Print it out and post it on your fridge.
http://www.memfox.com/ten-read-aloud-commandments.html

A is for Asparagus

As the trees in my backyard are blossoming, I can begin to appreciate the fresh greens arriving in my grocery store. It’s spring!!! For the month of April, we are celebrating ASPARAGUS!!!

Why did I choose to write about asparagus? I love to eat fruits, but like most people, I have a hard time getting excited about vegetables; so when it comes to convincing myself to eat more vegetables, I have to remember the disease-fighting chemical benefits that nature has to offer.

Asparagus is an excellent source of:

• Vitamin K – reduces swelling (can help with Pre-Menstrual Syndrom: PMS)

• many B vitamins – help breakdown foods

• Folate – fights birth defects (very important for pregnant moms)

• Vitamin C – helps the immune system

• Vitamin A – helps keep eyes healthy

• Inulin – increases friendly bacteria in the stomach and guts

• Asparagus is also a very good source of dietary fiber, manganese, copper, phosphorus, potassium and protein.

Last night for dinner, I served steamed asparagus with a light lemon vinaigrette dressing. My 14-month-old son loves to hold and chew the soft green stalks. If your child doesn't like the color or feel of asparagus, you can mash it up or blend it and add it to your favorite pasta sauce or soup broth. Don’t give up if they spit it out. Remember that if you eat healthy too and continue to serve them healthy foods, they will come around.

Only about 30% of Americans have 2 servings of fruits and 3 servings of veggies a day. Be good to yourself and give yourself a "Daily High Five" each day. Get your Five Fruits and Veggies every day!

For breakfast tomorrow, I will add chopped asparagus to give my regular omelet a burst of color and flavor. What will you do? To get a good head start on your Daily High Five, you can toss in a ½ cup of spinach, mushrooms, broccoli or onion into your eggs. As a sweet extra, put in a ½ cup of blueberries, strawberries, or raspberries into your whole-wheat cereal!

Help yourself and your family: eat well every day.