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It’s no surprise to anyone that being overweight can cause some problems. However, now it looks like younger overweight people may be in a bit more danger than we thought.
Researchers at the American Heart Association recently reported that heart problems caused by excess weight can appear in children as young as 8 years old.
A study was done on 20 obese (BMI over 35) children. They all had MRIs of their hearts, in order to see if their extra weight was affecting the heart in a negative way.
They found that the heart muscle of obese children was 12% thicker than heart muscle in overweight children. They also showed 27% thicker left ventricles. These are both very serious, since a thicker heart muscle means that the heart has to work harder to pump blood. The left ventricle is the one responsible for pumping blood to the body.
There’s even more bad news. Their hearts also showed signs of less contractility, which is one of the earliest signs of decreased heart function. Adults with thickened heart muscle and less contractility have been found to be more likely to die from heart-related issues.
The lead author of the study, Linyuan Jung, a postdoctoral fellow from the Geisinger Health System, said that these results were definitely cause for concern.
“It’s surprising to see evidence of heart disease among eight year olds, because that implies that children younger than eight could have signs of heart disease as well.”
Jing hopes that further research could help to discover which risk factors are causing these heart problems, and if they can be reversed. “We hope the changes in the heart are reversible, but we don’t know that currently.”
