Posted on 11/15/2005 10:42:35 PM PST by neverdem
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
DALLAS — Children who often eat in restaurants are more likely to have risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes, according to a novel study presented here.
The study is believed to be the first to link eating out and heart-disease risk factors, such as high blood pressure, and diabetes risk factors, such as poor insulin sensitivity. It also adds to earlier research showing that children who eat out frequently are more likely to be overweight.
"This is about what is going to happen to kids if we don't teach them a better way of life," said lead author Karen Olson, a registered nurse and executive director of the Cardiovascular Research and Education Foundation of Wausau, Wis.
The study, presented at the American Heart Association's annual scientific sessions, involved 621 Wausau elementary and high-school students, who were part of a study looking at heart-disease and diabetes risk factors.
Among those children, 126 ate out more than four times a week, not counting school lunches.
Compared with the 495 children who ate out fewer than four times a week, they had more high blood pressure, lower levels of HDL cholesterol (the good kind), smaller LDL cholesterol particle size (an established heart-disease risk factor) and more insulin insensitivity (an early warning sign of Type 2 diabetes).
Most of the differences were modest, but several were statistically significant. For instance, the average blood pressure of the kids who often ate out was 110/70, compared with 106/66 in those who ate out fewer than four times a week. HDL cholesterol was 45 for youngsters who ate out often, compared with 47 for those who did not.
Differences in health
Average blood pressure Kids who ate out often: 110/70
Kids who didn't: 106/66
Soft drinks a week
Kids who ate out often: 6 cups
Kids who didn't: 3.7 cups
Sedentary activity per day
Kids who ate out often: 3.6 hours
Kids who didn't: 2.8 hours The children who ate out often also had diets that were higher in starch, sugar, sodium, fat and cholesterol. In addition, they drank an average of six cups of soda and other sugary soft drinks a week, compared with 3.7 cups for the children who ate out fewer than four times a week.
Four out of 21 meals should not make a major difference in food intake, Olson said, suggesting that dining out often is a sign of eating a lot of fast food, such as frozen pizza and macaroni and cheese, at home.
Olson said most parents were unaware their children were developing risk factors for heart disease and diabetes. Most of the parents said they ate out with their kids because of time constraints.
"They were alarmed," Olson said. "A lot of people thought it wasn't affecting their kids."
The children who ate out often also tended to be more sedentary, although researchers did not find a significant difference in weight between the two groups. "It may be that it just hasn't caught up with them yet," Olson said.
On average, they spent 3.6 hours a day in sedentary activities such as watching TV, compared with 2.8 hours in the kids who ate out fewer than four times a week.
Most studies of children's eating habits have focused on weight, said Dr. Joseph Skelton, medical director of a program for overweight kids at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. He was not a part of the study.
"This was a very well-done study to make the big jump to cardiovascular risk factors," said Skelton, who also is a lecturer at the Medical College of Wisconsin. "It's just more proof that we need to change what we are eating."
However, making the change to a more healthful diet is hard for families, especially those who spend a lot of time eating while watching TV, which tends to take children's attention off how much they are eating, he said.
The study was funded by the Wausau Heart Institute and other community sources.
An infectious etiology is suspected in Diabetes Mellitus Type 1, aka Juvenile Diabetes. These folks are almost invariably never overweight.
The most common form of diabetes is type 2 diabetes. About 90 to 95 percent of people with diabetes have type 2. This form of diabetes is associated with older age, obesity, family history of diabetes, previous history of gestational diabetes, physical inactivity, and ethnicity. About 80 percent of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight.
Type 2 diabetes is increasingly being diagnosed in children and adolescents. (It's called Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young, aka MODY.) However, nationally representative data on prevalence of type 2 diabetes in youth are not available. (They're invariably obese.)
When type 2 diabetes is diagnosed, the pancreas is usually producing enough insulin, but for unknown reasons, the body cannot use the insulin effectively, a condition called insulin resistance. After several years, insulin production decreases.
I lost 30 pounds in 4 months (after my daughter was born) by eating at Burger King 5 days a week.
Is that better, Smartypants? ;-)
Ha ha! yeah, that's better. : D)
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