New research shows that overweight and obese children are at risk for developing high blood pressure as adults. Children who are overweight are twice as likely to develop the condition. And kids who are obese are four times as likely to develop it.
The study was presented at the American Heart Association High Blood Pressure Research Scientific Sessions 2013 and highlights the serious health risks associated with childhood obesity.
Dr. Sarita Dhuper, a pediatric cardiologist and director of the Live Light Live Right program, agrees with the findings. She has experienced this first-hand with the patients she evaluates in her clinic. She has even found significant changes in their cardiac structure and function when the obesity is associated with hypertension, as she wrote in a 2011 paper.
Together, these findings illustrate just how serious obesity is for children. It affects them now and puts them at risk for very serious health problems that will follow them for the rest of their lives.