Yes, even kids have to watch what they eat.

There’s a United Press International (UPI) Report that claims being obese as early as age 7 may raise a child’s risk for future heart disease and stroke, even in the absence of other risk factors. The story reports on a study undertaken by the Nemours Children’s Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida.

I think this story is significant even for parents with babies or toddlers. The sooner we start kids off on healthy eating habits, the better. The threat of future heart disease is just one reason.

Senior study author Dr. Nelly Mauras of the Florida Nemours Clinic says obese children are showing higher levels of clotting factor and inflammation as early as age 7. 
The study, scheduled to be published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, looked at children age 7-18 years old — 115 were obese and 87 were lean controls.

To be eligible for the study, the children had to show normal levels of fasting blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol and triglycerides. In other words, the children could show just one sign of the metabolic syndrome known to raise the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes — increased waist size.

The obese children — versus the controls — had significantly higher levels of the clotting factor fibrinogen as well as 10-fold higher levels of the inflammation marker C-reactive protein. 
”Doctors often do not treat obesity in children now unless they have other features of the metabolic syndrome,” Mauras says in a statement. “This practice should be reconsidered. Further studies are needed to offer more insight into the effects of therapeutic interventions in these children.”

The message to me here is, get kids started early on healthy eating. As soon as your child starts solids is a good time to begin. Expose them early to the tastes of various healthy foods. Get them their taste for greens, grains and fruit. Get them used to liking healthy proteins like chicken and fish. And these don’t have to always be fried to taste good.

If your toddler is a picky eater, hang in there. It takes them several tries before they decide to like certain foods. Easy on the fried stuff and the high sugar foods as well. You may think that’s all they want to eat, but given lots of opportunity to try the healthy stuff, they’ll get around to it! It’s also a challenge to get a little more creative — and sneaky — in the kitchen. I hear lots of kids love vegetable muffins!

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