How Overweight Children Start Hardening Their Arteries

A new study of 151 obese children and adolescents identifies key mechanisms that show how the process of plaque and calcium accumulation begins to build in early stages in these young people, setting them on a clear path of future cardiovascular disease. There were two key differences between obese children who were already developing thickening of their carotid arteries and obese children who were not: low vitamin D and low adiponectin¹.

Vitamin D deficiency is common in children in the United States. In combination with being overweight, it creates a chemistry imbalance with calcium. Instead of the calcium heading for bones, it can hang around in the blood and get stuck in arteries.

Of course, the arteries have to be inflamed in order for that to happen. The researchers found that low adiponectin was the key finding. Adiponectin is a primary anti-inflammatory hormone for the circulation that is suppressed by the high leptin levels of being overweight. (Please see yesterday's post on Low Adiponectin Levels Link Blood Sugar Problems and Heart Disease for more information.)

Children should have at least 1200 IU of vitamin D per day in the winter. The level should be closer to 2000 IU per day if a child is overweight. Getting a child on a healthy weight management program is of the utmost importance in preventing the tsunami of obesity-driven heart disease that public health officials are rightfully warning us about.