Kids Blood Pressure on the Rise
Much has been made recently about increasing weight problems among children and adolescents. Now, a new study from Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta warns that high blood pressure is rising among children and teens.
The study, which will be published in the American Heart Association Journal, Circulation, was led by Rebecca Din-Dzietham. Ms. Din-Dzietham says, “This is a major public health problems. Unless this upward trend in high blood pressure is reversed, we could be facing an explosion of new cardiovascular disease cases in young adults and adults.” Increases so far have been small-just one percent for early hypertension and 2.3 percent for full-blown hypertension. However, those numbers translate into hundreds of thousands more children developing what often becomes a chronic, lifelong condition.
How do you help combat high blood pressure in your children and teens? Small, common-sense measures. Make sure your kids are eating a healthy diet-one low in fat and salt. Just the opposite of what most kids (especially teens) like to eat, right? In addition, make sure your kids get regular exercise. These can be the two most important things you can do for your child.
If you have teens who are resistant to the diet-and-exercise routine, try providing them with an opportunity to speak with someone-a friend or relative-who suffers from high blood pressure. If they can talk with someone about the problems they have with the disease on a day-to-day basis, they just might pay attention!
teens, teenagers, obesity, hypertension, high blood pressure, adolescent health, child hypertension, adolescent hypertension, parenting, parenting teens, parenting teenagers
October 27th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
[...] Gayle placed an observative post today on Kids Blood Pressure on the Rise.Here’s a quick excerpt:Unless this upward trend in high blood pressure is reversed, we could be facing an explosion of new cardiovascular disease cases in young adults and adults.â€? Increases so far have been small-just one percent for early hypertension and … [...]
November 6th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
I have a teenage son and we have worked dilligently trying to instill in him how to make correct choices when it comes to unhealthy situations. Parties, holidays, etc. all have opportunities for kids to eat junk food. Our goal was to make sure our son knew that he didn’t have to give up tasty food. We taught him about alternatives where taste doesn’t get lost. One snack that he absolutely loves and is starting to get his friends hooked on it too is Laloo’s Goat Milk Ice Cream. (www.laloos.com) It has half the fat and half the calorie content as cow milk ice cream. It also tastes just as good. If any parent is out there looking for ways to get their kid to eat healthy, Laloo’s is the place to start. Just some advice from one parent to another…