Children as young as two who are overweight or obese are at risk of developing chronic illnesses later in life such as heart disease or stroke, a new study has revealed.
The United States research, published in The Journal of Clinical Hypertension, found risk factors for heart disease, such as high blood pressure and lower levels of protective cholesterol, have been found in overweight children aged between two and nine.
The Heart Foundation’s WA chief executive Maurice Swanson said this was of major concern to Western Australia where he said it was known 25 per cent of 12 to 17-year-olds were overweight or obese.
“We know that the disease process is one related to exposure,” he said.
“So the longer a person has high blood pressure, the longer a person has high cholesterol levels, the longer a person is physically inactive, that long exposure substantially increases their risk of heart disease, of type two diabetes, of arthritis and of certain types of cancers.
“And this new study is showing that these risk factors are evident in even very young children if they’re overweight.”
Mr Swanson said if stronger preventative measures were not put in place, the future cost on the state’s public health system would be enormous.
“We know already that in 2011 the treatment of obesity related conditions in our public hospitals in WA was $240 million and it is going to reach half a billion dollars by 2025,” he said.
“We have a prevalence of overweight and obesity among adults of about 66 per cent.
“The proportion of adults who are overweight has been increasing since the early 1980s and it’s going to hit our hospital system like a tsunami in terms of costs.
“So we really need to wake up as a community about the implications of overweight and obesity for our health system.”
Tax on sugary drinks a ‘drastic’ measure
Earlier this week, Berkeley in California became the first US city to vote in favour of a tax on sugary drinks driven by the country’s growing obesity crisis.
Mr Swanson said it was drastic measures like these that needed to be considered across the country to bring about meaningful change.
“Using school health education as the sole strategy is just a recipe for disaster because you’re not doing anything about the environment in which parents and kids are making decisions about the food that they eat,” he said.
“For example, the major supermarket chains in the UK have now withdrawn junk food from the check-outs.
“That will help parents because it will decrease pester power by children when the family is leaving the store.
“Now why couldn’t our major supermarket chains here in Australia do the same? You would hope that they would want to act responsibly and follow the example.
“Unfortunately voluntary agreements between the industry and the government or the community don’t really work when we’re trying to put down changes in health behaviours.”
Mr Swanson said curbing promotions, educating parents and children and placing greater importance on working physical activity into routines were paramount to reducing the problem.
And the reward is high for those younger age groups.
“At this age [the effects are] certainly reversible,” he said.
“These diseases don’t develop in a week, or a month, or a year.
“If they were to steadily lose this weight, they would have an impact on their blood pressure, they would have an impact on their blood fats and decrease the harmful type of cholesterol in their bloodstream.”