• March 29, 2024

The effects of obesity can be observed in children as young as eight years old

The effects of obesity can be seen in children as young as eight years old

Researchers analyzed the waist circumference of children aged 3 to 8 years and found that children with a larger waist circumference were more likely to have a predisposition for nonalcoholic liver steatosis, these in fact the effects of obesity’obesity. Alcoholic fatty liver disease condition occurs when excess fat accumulates in the liver, causing inflammation and damage.

Nonalcoholic hepatic steatosis is the most common chronic liver condition in adults and children, affecting about 80 million individuals in the United States. The disease generally causes no symptoms but can lead to cirrhosis of the liver and, in some cases, liver cancer. “Many parents know that obesity can lead to type 2 diabetes and other metabolic conditions, but there&#8217s much less awareness that obesity, even in young children, can lead to serious liver disease ” said Dr. Jennifer Woo Baidal of Columbia University Medical Center who authored the research.

The effects of obesity are noted on children&#8217s liver

Previous research has focused on the condition in adolescents and young adults, but the’current study examined risk factors for fatty liver in young children. The doctor and her team measured blood levels of a marker of liver damage called ALT among 635 children in Project Viva, a prospective study of women and children in Massachusetts. As reported in the Journal of Pediatrics , 23% of children had elevated ALT at age 8 years old.

Children with a larger waist circumference at age 3 and those who gained more weight between ages 3 and 8 were more likely to have an elevated ALT. About 35% of obese children at age 8 had elevated ALT, compared with 20% of children of normal weight.

Dr. Jennifer pointed out that some doctors begin measuring ALT in at-risk children at
about age 10, but these findings highlight the’importance of taking action earlier in a child&#8217s life.
We urgently need better ways to screen, diagnose, prevent, and treat
this disease starting from childhood’the researcher finally stated. Until recently, he points out
Giovanni D’Agata president of the “Sportello dei Diritti” the complications of childhood obesity were
clinically evident only after many years.

Clinical studies of obese children, such as the one at Columbia University Medical Center, have suggested
a number of medical conditions for which obese children are at greater risk. These
conditions are important because they are very common, potentially serious, and responsible for consequences
serious to health and well-being of life. Of all the consequences of obesity, the most common are
represented by lung-type disorders such as breath fatigue, sleep apnea and asthma and
of an orthopedic type.