Throughout the developed world, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death. While many things contribute to cardiovascular illness, doctors say that high cholesterol is one of the leading factors, and it’s what makes many cardiovascular problems so serious and potentially deadly.
Up until the last decade or so, high cholesterol has been thought of primarily as an adult problem. Its negative effects tend to affect people over 40, and people who are younger rarely have to worry about it. However, a series of recent studies is casting new light on this issue.
One particular study, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control in the U.S. found that high cholesterol is becoming increasingly prevalent in children, particularly in those who have obesity or who do not exercise enough. That’s why many health experts are beginning to recommend that kids as young as 2 years of age may, under certain circumstances, need to be screened for high cholesterol.
Cholesterol Definition
Before we look more closely at which kids need screening and how high cholesterol can be dealt with, let’s get the definitions out of the way.
First of all, cholesterol is a fatty substance that most animals naturally produce in the liver. As humans, we produce it naturally, but the problems really begin when we consume excess cholesterol in the form of animal products such as meat, eggs, and dairy.
A little bit of cholesterol is healthy. It strengthens our cell walls, and it’s needed for the production of hormones, digestive acids, and various vitamins. However, the amount of cholesterol that is needed for these functions is minimal, particularly when compared to the amount that most people consume.
In any case, there are only certain types of cholesterol that are healthy. Most significantly, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), also known as “good cholesterol,” is mostly beneficial, while low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is mostly harmful. HDL helps to clear out LDL while also decreasing your chances of heart disease. LDL does the exact opposite.
When there is too much LDL in a person’s body, it begins to collect inside of the arteries, restricting the amount of blood that can flow back to the heart. Eventually, the arteries start to harden, having dangerous effects on the heart’s functioning.
The end result of LDL build-up going unchecked is a heart attack, and we all know how serious those can be.
What makes cholesterol high?
There are a variety of factors that contribute to whether you have low or high cholesterol, including:
* Weight: Overweight people tend to have higher levels of bad cholesterol, as overeating and cholesterol usually go hand in hand.
* Age: As we get older, we gather more LDL in our arteries, and we start to have more difficulty getting rid of it.
* Exercise: Exercising speeds up the metabolism and helps to clear out bad cholesterol more efficiently.
* Gender: Men typically have more cholesterol than women. Pre-menopausal woman are usually pretty safe from cholesterol problems, but this reverses post-menopause.
* Genes: Heredity can play a very significant role in governing your susceptibility to high cholesterol.
* Smoking: Smoking reduces the good cholesterol in your body.
Who needs to be tested, and what can be done?
With all these factors in mind, it’s clear which kids need to be tested for high cholesterol. There are three main groups:
1. kids who are overweight;
2. kids who don’t exercise enough;
3. kids who have a family history of cholesterol problems.
Due to factors 2 and 3, there have been many cases of normal-sized, even underweight, kids with high cholesterol. So wherever there is family history, parents cannot be too careful.
To reduce these problems, there are some simple solutions. Children of all ages need at least 60 minutes of sustained exercise per day. It’s also important that they have no more than 2 servings of meat every day, plus only limited amounts of dairy and eggs. Vegetables can play a huge role in reducing cholesterol, so make sure your child gets his or her greens.
When, due to genetic disposition, kids have high cholesterol in spite of all of their parents’ best efforts, consider talking to your doctor about anti-cholesterol medications. The downside? Once children begin with these medications, they basically have to take them for life.
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