Improper Diet Causes Poor Heart Health In Kids

New York: Children who eat high-calorie, low-nutrition food and avoid eating healthy are at risk of having poor heart health, a new study has suggested.

Seven key health factors and behaviour are used to determine whether a child’s cardiovascular health is ideal - not using tobacco products, maintaining a healthy body weight, getting at least 60 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous physical activity, eating a healthy diet as well as having healthy cholesterol, blood pressure and blood glucose levels.

In the study about 91 per cent children scored poorly on diet measures and found that children aged between 2 to 19 years old get the bulk of their daily calories from simple carbohydrates such as sugary desserts and beverages.

Similarly, the level of physical activity was not enough to protect their hearts and the effects of poor diet and physical inactivity affected body weight and the percentage of obesity was also high. Surprisingly, among these older children, the rate of cigarette smoking was high.

However, the healthiest metric for children was blood pressure, with nearly all children in the ideal group. Most children also had ideal measurements for total blood cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

--IANS