 | | | | Related Healthscout Videos | |
|
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Steps to lower cholesterol should begin as early as infancy, according to a new study. Researchers say the goal of Americans should be to lower cholesterol by changing habits beginning as young as seven months old and into early childhood.
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States. Study authors from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say current approaches to lowering cholesterol to prevent heart disease are not working. They are calling for new aggressive changes that will significantly lower the rates of coronary artery disease.
Text Continues Below
Researchers say doctors generally do not measure cholesterol in children and young adults. However, they say a study of Japanese men showed that a low-fat diet from infancy resulted in lifelong low cholesterol levels. It also showed a death rate from heart disease of only 10 percent the rate of disease in the U.S.
Study authors say they do not advocate using drug therapy to lower levels of cholesterol in children. Instead they say the population needs TLC, which stands for therapeutic lifestyle changes such as diet and exercise. Researchers write, "A concerted national effort might dramatically reduce morbidity and mortality due to three major chronic diseases It would take generations to achieve and it would require an all-out commitment of money and manpower to reeducate and modify the behavior of a nation."
SOURCE: Circulation, 2008
Sign up for a free weekly e-mail on Medical Breakthroughs called First to Know by clicking here.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
|
.gif)
