High Cholesterol In Children

High Cholesterol and Children

There is more and more evidence that high cholesterol and the build up of plague in the inside of your arteries can begin at childhood.  This would lead to heart disease and other coronary problems later down the road as an adult. 

Heart disease is still responsible for four hundred and fifty thousand deaths a year in the United States.  Thirty percent of this number had a heart related disease or a heart attack below the age of sixty five.  A good percentage of these patients have children that could be at risk for an early heart attack, stroke, or death.
High cholesterol can begin in early childhood due to the diet and the precursor due to genetics and heredity.  A diet high in fat can start the plague building on the inside of the blood vessels and cause the veins to start to thicken.  This is bad for children because their bodies are still in a stage of development that any deletion to oxygen could have a profound effect on the overall health of the child.  If the child has elevated cholesterol counts in a young age, it is almost a certainty that the child will grow into an adult with high cholesterol. The diet of children needs to monitor by the caregiver.  The child must learn at a young age about moderation and the importance of a good diet.  If the child eats bad in the early years of life, the habit will carry with them into adulthood.  If you have a child that has a high cholesterol count, a diet change is essential in lowering the amount of plague that is clogging the blood vessels.  Though the child may be too young to receive medications for the cholesterol level, diet and exercise will lower the LDL and give the child a better chance of controlling their cholesterol levels at adulthood.

If the child begins smoking as a teenager, the dangerous affects of tobacco will increase the chance of high cholesterol.  Smoking and tobacco use for children, and if fact adults, should be discouraged at all costs.  Aerobic exercise should be encouraged at a young age so the cardiovascular system of the child develops correctly and any plague build up in the blood vessels are washed cleaned with the high volume of blood the exercises circulates.  Obesity in a child can also be averted with this regime of diet and exercises.  Obesity haunts millions of America’s children and high cholesterol is just around the corner if not already there.

Not only is high cholesterol associated with obesity and lack of exercise, but also high blood pressure and diabetes. 

The combination of all these negative health issues is enough to make the life of the child uncomfortable, both physically and emotionally, but also will start habits that will be carried over to adulthood with the end results being a reduced life span and a bad quality of life while you are alive. 

If you are a parent have your children checked for high cholesterol even if they are not overweight and you think they are eating alright.  The high cholesterol that might be found could be due to genetics.  Especially if you have high cholesterol, the chance that your child might have high cholesterol is dramatically increased. 

High cholesterol is not just a condition that affects middle age and older Americans.  The statistics point to this group only because high cholesterol in children has not been considered before.  Many of these people probably had beginning high cholesterol in their youth and did not even know it.