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NEW YORK, Mar 19 (Reuters Health) - From labels on cereal boxes to TV commercials, the public is continually reminded of the harm high cholesterol inflicts on the heart. The downside to this, experts say, is that the public--particularly young people--may forget about equally important and equally controllable heart disease risk factors such as high blood pressure and obesity.
But these and other conditions are key in leading to hardened and narrowed arteries in young people, even if they have normal cholesterol levels, new research confirms. In autopsies of more than 850 individuals aged 15 to 34 who had died from trauma, investigators found that artery-clogging plaques were more common among those who had smoked, had high blood pressure, were obese or had signs of diabetes--even in the presence of normal cholesterol levels.
"You can't just focus on your cholesterol level and think you're doing all you can," lead author Dr. Henry C. McGill, Jr., of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, said in an interview. "The message to the public has to be, 'have a balanced, healthy lifestyle.'"
McGill and his colleagues report their findings in the March 20th issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
High levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol and low levels of HDL, the "good" cholesterol, are major risk factors for heart disease. But, according to McGill, emphasis on cholesterol control among doctors and in public-health messages may be overshadowing other risk factors. Obesity, which can spur heart-harming conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes, is becoming epidemic in the US. Data released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate more than 60% of American adults are overweight or obese.
And, McGill said, obesity and diabetes are becoming even more common among young adults and teenagers.
Parents, he said, must realize that "what's good for them is good for their children." That means getting kids off the couch and into activities and limiting their intake of sugary, high-fat foods. High-calorie soft drinks, McGill noted, have recently been implicated in the rising rate of obesity among US children.
According to McGill, an obese young adult who loses weight and maintains a non-obese body mass for 10 years will cut their risk of suffering a heart attack in middle age by about 50%.
SOURCE: Circulation 2001;103
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