Obese children are 'suffering high blood pressure'

Obese children 'suffering high blood pressure' - Telegraph

Extract:

"Scientists who studied 14,187 children aged between three and 18 found that more than three per cent had high blood pressure but three quarters of them had not been properly diagnosed.

The team warned that doctors need to be more aware of the condition.

It comes as one quarter of children in the UK are classed as overweight and the obesity epidemic is growing.

Having hypertension as a child increases the risk of heart disease in adulthood as the longer blood pressure is elevated the greater the risk.

Children are also being diagnosed with type two diabetes which is usually associated with being overweight.

The authors of a study of children in Ohio, America and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association said: “Hypertension in children has been shown to correlate with family history of hypertension, low birth weight, and excess weight. With the increasing prevalence of childhood weight problems, increased attention to weight-related health conditions including hypertension is warranted. Several lines of evidence suggest that blood pressure in US children and adolescents is increasing in parallel with weight.”

Of the 14,187 children and adolescents studied between June 1999 and September 2006 in the outpatient clinics 507 children and adolescents (3.6 per cent) had hypertension. Of those 131 (26 per cent) had a diagnosis of hypertension or elevated blood pressure documented in the electronic medical record meaning three quarters had not been formally diagnosed. "

It is fluid retention that causes the obesity and the high blood pressure in these children. And fluid retention in children is caused by eating food high in salt. - It is not caused by overeating or by lack of exercise. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html Here is an extract from the page:

"When children become fat it is essentially because they are eating salty food. Children are especially vulnerable to salt because of their small size and small blood volume, and because their blood vessels are weaker than those of adults. Salt, and the water it attracts to it, can more easily distend weak blood vessels than fully mature ones. The resulting increase in blood volume and other fluid retention results in weight gain, as well as higher blood pressure and many other undesirable consequences. The smaller the child, the less salt they should have - and a baby, of course, should have no salt at all. - Babies can die if they are fed salty food.

Because children have much smaller bodies than adults it would be best if they had no more than half as much salt as adults. Most children, however, have much more than this because they eat so many snacks and instant foods. Just one cheeseburger, for instance, contains almost double the recommended daily salt maximum for children. There are high amounts of salt in packet soups, instant noodles, ketchup and sauces, sausages, burgers and savoury snacks. Fat children will lose weight fast if they eat less salt. And even faster still if they eat plenty of fresh fruit and unsalted vegetables, because these are rich in potassium, which helps to displace sodium from the body."

Lose weight and improve your health by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! - How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions