Increased Fat In Children Raises Their Blood Pressure Risk

More early nutritional child abuse and additional validation of the BMI.

"If your children are overweight or obese, their risk of having high blood pressure is almost three times higher than children at normal weight, according to new research in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.

A study of 1,111 healthy Indiana school children over a period of 4.5 years revealed that when the children's body mass index (BMI) reached or passed the 85th percentile - the beginning of the overweight category - the adiposity effect on blood pressure was more than four times that of normal weight children. Adiposity is fat under the skin and surrounding major organs.

The absolute value of BMI is not used to classify weight status in children, because change in BMI is normal and expected as children grow and develop. Instead, BMI percentiles are used which adjust for age and gender.

Researchers found when children reached categories of overweight or obese, the influence of adiposity on blood pressure increased.

"Higher blood pressure in childhood sets the stage for high blood pressure in adulthood," said Wanzhu Tu, Ph.D., study lead author and Professor of Biostatistics at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, Indiana."

Stop nutritional child abuse by holding parents/guardians responsible.