U.S children scored low on heart health
Studies showed that U.S children scored low on heart health. The American Heart Association (AHA) report found that fewer children are having healthy habits or taking care of their heart health.
Less than 1 percent of American children are achieving the organization’s definition of ideal cardiovascular health.
Babies are usually born with healthy hearts but during their childhood, they should attend their cardiovascular health in order to live a healthy life.
Seven standards of good heart health must be followed, AHA states. The standards include sustaining healthy blood pressure, blood sugar levels and cholesterol. Also having a healthy weight in relation to height (BMI – body mass index), not smoking and getting enough physical activity.
The lead author, Dr. Julia Steinberger, mentioned that the main reasons why kids fail to maintain their cardiovascular health are unhealthy diets and lack of physical activity. Because their meals are mostly based on sugary foods and drinks, 91 percent of U.S. children have poor diets.
When it comes to meeting the minimum recommended amount of physical activity, only half of the American boys aged six to eleven managed to achieve it and only a third of American young girls with the same age.
Children aged 16 to 19 are even less likely to complete the minimum recommended physical activity.
Moreover, around one-third of the American population has admitted at least trying cigarettes. The rates among boys were slightly higher than girls, the study showed.
Researchers believe that schools should be more involved in promoting a healthy lifestyle for children because the obesity rates are around 10 to 27 percent in U.S kids, depending on their age category.
According to the study, blood pressure is normal for around 90 percent of the American children. However, 37 percent of boys and 20 percent of girls have increased blood sugar levels. Moreover, a third of adolescents and children have high cholesterol levels.
Unhealthy behaviors are demonstrated to continue even when children get older. Studies showed that less than 60 percent of adolescents have an ideal MBI level, while more than a third of the teens admitted smoking cigarettes in the last 30 days.
Studies proved that more research is needed as well as improved surveillance in order to better track the cardiovascular health in children.
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