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 ****** and low adiponectin¹.

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.)

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.