Hello! I have been a doctor for 21 years. My name is Georgy Olegovich Sapego. In this article, I will talk about the prevention of heart attack, which begins at birth.
Heart disease usually occurs in adults. But we have all heard that atherosclerosis is already established in children. Moreover, there are even children in whom their juvenile atherosclerosis jumps at a breakneck speed.
If you try, you can make sure that these rudiments of atherosclerosis do not later turn into a heart attack or stroke.
How did everyone know this? In three ways.
The sad way
The first way is very sad. Children also die sometimes. When an autopsy was performed on children who died from causes not related to the heart, they found signs of atherosclerosis. These are usually streaks of fat in the arteries.
In 1998, they conducted such a sad study and found fatty streaks in 50% of children aged 2 to 15 years. Moreover, 20% of children already had specific plaques in the aorta and arteries of the heart.
Not such a sad way
The children underwent ultrasound examination of the carotid arteries and determined approximately the same indicators as in adults with atherosclerosis. It turned out very similar. That is, atherosclerosis developed on its own, literally from childhood. There are many different ways to test this.
The easiest way
Medicine is developing. Statistics, which everyone scolded, is also developing. And so you and I have lived through the time when long-term research, which began with children, ends with adults. Now you can very accurately determine the relationship between who grew up and who died when. Also not too fun, but in this case, you will not find fault.
It turned out that risk factors for cardiovascular diseases should be monitored from an early age. Otherwise, you can wait for a heart attack or stroke.
How to stop it all
There are two ways to stop atherosclerosis before the child becomes a grandfather:
- raise a child adhering to the rules of a healthy lifestyle;
- to catch those children who have already become fat and start saving them.
Nutrition, exercise, and smoking are important for initially healthy children. This can be influenced.
Parenting includes nutrition
The first six months of life for babies is very beneficial to natural feeding. This is encouraged for up to a year.
Breastfeeding has been tested and found to reduce the risk of high cholesterol and obesity in the future.
In principle, children benefit from the same nutritional guidelines we discussed for adults with heart disease. Only age up to one year is excluded, when fat in the diet is not limited.
Children on average do not like plant foods. They need to be taught. It is generally accepted that each new useful product must be offered at least 5 times. Then the child gets used to the new taste.
For the same reason, dinners are now encouraged at the same table for children to watch adults eat different foods.
Exercise stress
The kids are at home and on their phones. They need to be encouraged to move. Nobody knows exactly what kind of physical activity and in what quantity is useful for children. But it is known for sure that a sedentary lifestyle in childhood is guaranteed to continue in adults.
It is not allowed to watch TV until two years old. Older children are advised to spend no more than 2 hours in front of screens.
Smoking
Including the passive. That is, smoking is not fashionable, and everyone knows that. But smoking next to a child is about as harmful as if the child smoked himself.
What to do with children who already have problems
They are examined, monitored for blood sugar levels, overweight, cholesterol, signs of atherosclerosis, blood pressure, and almost everything that is checked in adults.
The problem is that atherosclerosis does not manifest itself in any way in children. It will manifest itself in a few decades.
The 30-year mark is considered a serious milestone. If by this age there is already arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus or high cholesterol, then in the near future there is a chance of dying from a heart attack or stroke.
Have you met a pediatrician who would tell you about the distant future? I have not met. For more than ten years, students from 16 to 24 years old have come to my appointment for bronchial asthma, but none of them ever admitted that they attended asthma school. So learning is a problem.
It turns out that there is a gap between preschool age and middle age, which few people try to influence. If you have small children, try asking your pediatrician about preventing cardiovascular disease. I wonder what they will answer you ...
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Prevention of heart failure. Part one
Prevention of heart failure. Part two
