A new study found that obesity in childhood will substantially
increase future risk of heart attack and other cardiac events,
media reported Thursday.
The study published in the New England Journal of
Medicine showed that the greater the increase in the
children's weight, the higher their risk of suffering heart disease
in their future life.
The study also said that the obesity ratio would increase by 5
to 12 percent for the boys who are overweight now and 2 to 12
percent for the girls by 2020 in the United States, which means
more heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure at a younger
age.
"If we don't take steps to reverse course, the children of each
successive generation seem destined to be fatter and sicker than
their parents," said David Ludwig of Children's Hospital Boston in
a commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine.
More than 9 million children in the United States are overweight
now, and by 2035, the prevalence of heart disease will have
increased by 5 to 16 percent, researchers estimated.
"My colleagues and I have predicted that pediatric obesity may
shorten life expectancy in the United States by 2 to 5 years by
mid-century -- an effect equal to that of all cancers combined,"
said Ludwig.
(Agencies via Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2007)