Parents need to step up to the plate and intervene in the lives of their children or, as predicted over a decade ago, this generation will be the first not to out live their parents. This is not a joke! It is not a fantasy. It is not a scare tactic. Parents had better begin to take these warnings seriously before their children pay the price for their ignorance!

“We are all born with ideal cardiovascular health, but right now we are looking at the loss of that health in youth,” said Donald Lloyd-Jones, M.D., chair and associate professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. “Their future is bleak.”

The study used measurements from the AHA’s 2020 Strategic Impact Goals for monitoring cardiovascular health in adolescents and children. Among the findings:

Very Poor Diets: All the 12-to-19-year-olds had terrible diets, which, surprisingly, were even worse than those of adults, Lloyd-Jones said. None of their diets met all five criteria for being healthy. Their diets were high in sodium and sugar-sweetened beverages and didn’t include enough fruits, vegetables, fiber or lean protein.

“They are eating too much pizza and not enough whole foods prepared inside the home, which is why their sodium is so high and fruit and vegetable content is so low,” Lloyd-Jones said.

High Blood Sugar: More than 30 percent of boys and more than 40 percent of girls have elevated blood sugar, putting them at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes.

Overweight or Obese: Thirty-five percent of boys and girls are overweight or obese. “These are startling rates of overweight and obesity, and we know it worsens with age,” Lloyd-Jones said. “They are off to a bad start.”

Low Physical Activity: Approximately 38 percent of girls had an ideal physical activity level compared to 52 percent of boys.

High Cholesterol: Girls’ cholesterol levels were worse than boys’. Only 65 percent of girls met the ideal level compared to 73 percent of boys.

Smoking: Almost 25 percent of teens had smoked within the past month of being surveyed.

Blood Pressure: Most boys and girls (92.9 percent and 93.4 percent, respectively) had an ideal level of blood pressure.

The problem won’t be easy to fix. “We are much more sedentary and get less physical activity in our daily lives,” Lloyd-Jones said. “We eat more processed food, and we get less sleep. It’s a cultural phenomenon, and the many pressures on our health are moving in a bad direction. This is a big societal problem we must address.”

• Dogs Don't Talk Wrote this for the kids, thought I'd post it for feedback. Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, a land that very much resembles this one, but not quite, there lived four cousins.  Well, to be specific, they were two cousins, a brother, and a sister.  Their......
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Studies in adults and children have shown a link between obesity and vitamin D deficiency. However, data characterizing the racial differences in the relationship between obesity and vitamin D, particularly in fat tissue distribution are limited. This study examined the racial differences in the relationship between vitamin D status, BMI, fat levels, fat distribution and lipid levels in healthy obese and non-obese 8-18 year old black and white children.

“Vitamin D deficiency is rampant in American youth, and there is some suggestion in adults that low levels of vitamin D may be playing a role in the increasing rates of type 2 diabetes. It is possible the same may be true for youth with type 2 diabetes,” said Silva Arslanian, MD, of the University of Pittsburgh and lead author of the study. “Our study found that vitamin D was associated with higher fat levels and lower levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), also known as good cholesterol, in both black and white children.”

In this study, researchers measured vitamin D levels in 237 children and found the majority of the study participants were vitamin D deficient. Plasma vitamin D levels were associated inversely with BMI and fat levels and positively with HDL cholesterol in all subjects. Visceral adipose tissue (fat between internal organs) was higher in vitamin D deficient whites and subcutaneous adipose tissue (fat below the skin) was higher in vitamin D deficient blacks compared with their respective vitamin D non-deficient counterparts.

“Besides therapeutic interventions to correct the high rates of vitamin D deficiency in youth, benefits of vitamin D optimization on fat levels, lipid profile and risk of type 2 diabetes need to be explored,” said Arslanian.

Other researchers working on the study include: Kumaravel Rajakumar, Javier de las Heras and SoJung Lee of the University of Pittsburgh in Penn.; and Tai Chen and Michael Holick of Boston University in Mass.

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Journal Reference:

1. L. George, F. Bacha, S. Lee, H. Tfayli, E. Andreatta, S. Arslanian. Surrogate Estimates of Insulin Sensitivity in Obese Youth Along the Spectrum of Glucose Tolerance from Normal to Prediabetes to Diabetes. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2011; DOI: 10.1210/jc.2010-2813

• Real Reasons for Warming Up pt 2 Unfortunately, a warm up is not something that you can simply gloss over when it comes to preparing for a triathlon. This two part series seeks to look at why. We were talking about abnormal ECG changes, right? These abnormal changes in the ECG were not related to fitness level......
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We all know that the presence of vitamin D in our bodies is important for a variety of reasons notably for the absorption and utilization of calcium & phosphorus by the intestinal tract, to enable normal mineralization of the bone, reduce cancer risk and may play a role in the prevention or treatment of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, hypertension and multiple sclerosis.

The question here is what is the best source of vitamin D?

Science seems to be divided on the answer to this question especially in the area of supplementation. There are some scientists who believe that our diets are deficient in vitamin D and that supplementation is necessary. Others say that the recommended dosages for adequate vitamin D supplementation are inadequate (Michael Holick, M.D., and a group of other nutrition experts writing in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (March, 2007, 85(3);649-650.) Still others claim that vitamin D supplementation suppresses the immune system (Trevor Marshall, Ph.D., professor at Australia’s Murdoch University School of Biological Medicine and Biotechnology).

In the absence of a clear scientific conclusion where should we turn for the answer to the question at hand? Personally, when I am conflicted, having no clear choice I always chose to err on the side of safety and turn to the body’s built in mechanisms. The body produces vitamin D naturally when the skin is exposed to ultraviolet rays. In my opinion this is the most natural method of assuring that vitamin D is present in the body. Many studies show that most people meet their vitamin D needs through exposure to sunlight. The factors that affect UV radiation exposure and research to date on the amount of sun exposure needed to maintain adequate vitamin D levels make it difficult to provide general guidelines. It has been suggested by some vitamin D researchers, for example, that approximately 5-30 minutes of sun exposure between 10 AM and 3 PM at least twice a week to the face, arms, legs, or back without sunscreen usually lead to sufficient vitamin D synthesis and that the moderate use of commercial tanning beds that emit 2-6% UVB radiation is also effective. Individuals with limited sun exposure need to include good sources of vitamin D in their diet (milk or fish) or take a supplement.

It is important to note that vitamin D obtained from sun exposure, food, and supplements is biologically inert and must undergo two hydroxylations in the body for activation. The first occurs in the liver and converts vitamin D to 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], also known as calcidiol. The second occurs primarily in the kidney and forms the physiologically active 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25(OH)2D], also known as clairol. For people who suffer from some kind of dysfunction of the liver or kidney further supplementation may be necessary for the body to hydroxylate the vitimin. If you do suffer from inadequate liver or kidney function and desire to optimize the way your body uses vitamin D you should consult your physician.

Conclusion: Until there is a clear consensus on weather vitamin D supplementation is beneficial or harmful I suggest letting your body produce it’s own vitamin D from sunlight as it was designed to do.

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