ESC: Obese Kids Show Signs of Metabolic Syndrome

More nutritional child abuse.

Obese children as young as 12 exhibit signs of metabolic syndrome, researchers say.

In addition to higher blood pressure and greater insulin resistance, children who were obese had significantly decreased endothelial function and increased intima media thickness...compared with their normal-weight peers, Sandra Erbs, MD, of the University of Leipzig in Germany, told attendees at the European Society of Cardiology Congress here.

'Nearly all components of metabolic syndrome are evident in our population of obese children,' Erbs said. 'The most [surprising] result of our trial was that endothelium-dependent relaxation of forearm arteries is already impaired, [similar to] adults with chronic heart failure,' she said at a press conference.

Simon Capewell, MD, of the University of Liverpool in England and moderator of the press conference at which Erbs' study was presented, said there's an 'extensive literature' on the problems associated with metabolic syndrome in young children, and this is an 'extremely compelling study that further strengthens the evidence.'

'This is no longer something that physicians can be complacent about,' Capewell said. 'This is real. These kids are on a path to become cardiovascular patients.'"

And yet, complacency is all we get from child-abusing parents and the mandatory reporters who routinely break the law.

Among the latter are doctors, nurses, teachers and principals.

Help the kids by doing the right thing.