KIDS’ HEALTH HABITS AFFECT LATER CHOLESTEROL RISK

HEALTHY HABITS IN YOUTH TIED TO
BETTER ADULT CHOLESTEROL LEVELS

HealthDay News (www.businessweek.com) - A new study links cholesterol levels in young adults to changes in lifestyle between childhood and adulthood. Previous research had looked at whether blood fat levels, such as cholesterol and triglyceride levels, remain steady from childhood to adulthood. “Unhealthy lifestyle changes that occur between youth and adulthood affect whether an individual maintains, loses, or develops high-risk blood lipid and lipoprotein levels in adulthood,” Costan G. Magnussen, of the University of Tasmania in Australia and co-authors wrote in the January issue of Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. Researchers looked at the cholesterol and triglyceride levels in 539 people both in childhood and as young adults: levels were measured in 1985 when the participants were 9, 12 or 15, and again between 2004 and 2006, when they were in their 20s and 30s.

Those who continued to have high-risk blood lipid and lipoprotein levels were more likely to have gained body fat and either started or continued to smoke. Those who went from low risk in childhood to high risk as adults were also more likely to have gained body fat and become less fit, the investigators found. Their findings are important because suggest that beneficial changes in modifiable risk factors (smoking and adiposity) in the time between youth and adulthood have the potential to shift those with high-risk blood lipid and lipoprotein levels in youth to low-risk levels in adulthood, and they also emphasize that preventive programs in youth are important.


Unhealthy habits - including packing on extra pounds and smoking - acquired during a child’s middle years may help predict the likelihood of having unhealthy cholesterol levels in early adulthood. This new research indicates that poor lifestyle factors such as gaining body fat, smoking linked to high-risk levels; on the contrary, the study finds that adopting healthy habits in youth can have a significant positive impact on cholesterol levels in adulthood. Of course, human body is subject to entropy and decay but with a little effort we can improve our level of health by rejecting things which are harmful to our body and mind, and adopting a healthy lifestyle, getting more physical activity and eating more fruits and vegetables.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

If growing old were simply a matter of erosion or exhaustion, one would expect that all the hundred-year-old people had poor health, trapped in bodies with many damaged parts. Indeed, among our centenarians there are good levels of health. For the most part, they still move without assistance (usually without crutches or canes), and many of them continue to work, at least in the household and personal care. ... Stair climbing is an excellent aerobic exercise that accelerates the heart rate in ten beats for each step up. A study in Finland showed that those who went up stairs of at least twenty-five steps per day achieved a remarkable physical condition. ... Exercise a little every day is much better than to wait for the weekend to do it. The activity that starts and stops produces tension to the body, which prefers daily sessions. You are the one to decide to call or not “exercise” to your activity; some people are not interested in sports or gymnastics, but you can stay active doing the bed, climbing stairs, walking instead of taking a taxi, returning home on foot with a bag of groceries, etc.

Dr. Deepak Chopra
“Ageless Body, Timeless Mind”
Publisher: Random House Australia