www.thelighterweigh.com
I am torn about this issue. On the one hand, we cannot just sit back and watch our children eat themselves to death. One out of every three children is overweight and at risk for medical problems due to their health. There are more children with high cholesterol than ever before. Children are now commonly developing diseases that used to be exclusively adult diseases. The CDC says this generation will be the first generation in history to die younger than their parents- all due to their increased weight and all the problems that go with it. An overweight adult with high cholesterol and diabetes may have a heart attack in their 60s- but a child who develops these illnesses may have a heart attack in their 30s. We must do whatever we can to prevent some of these diseases. How can we not try a medicine that seems to be safe and effective?
At the same time, we must also realize that there are no studies of the long term effects of these medications and there is no hard data that lowering cholesterol by using these drugs will definitively lower the risk of heart disease. So I can understand why some are hesitant.
My bottom line opinion: we must give nutritional and exercise changes a really strong effort first. As the AAP recommends, parents should seek the expertise of a child weight management physician. If that truly does not lower the cholesterol, I think we should give the medications. I think we are obligated to try whatever we can. We know that children with high cholesterol are at severe risk of medical problems and we don't know that the medicines will do any harm... There is no clear-cut answer, and I would love to hear your arguments either way.
Thanks for reading.
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Hey, Joanna, it is Theresa. I loved the blog about the back of the neck - I didn't know that and went and checked Tiffany's. She has had her sugar, thyroid, iron and all sorts of stuff checked when she was so sleepy in March.
Hi Theresa. Thanks for posting. Did Tiffany have the acanthosis nigricans? Adults can get it too, by the way. Were all of her tests normal?
Regarding cholesterol meds - some children may be predispositioned to have high cholesterol, right? But, I agree with you that nutrition and activity should ALWAYS be the first line of defense. Possibly the second and third lines as well.
As you stated in a previous entry, children will eat what you put in front of them. There's no such thing as a child that will only eat chicken nuggets.
I also have a hard time believing that parents are so ready to start their kids on pill popping so early (when there are other solutions).
You are right... most parents will try other changes before starting children on medications. The part of the story that people are not mentioning is that the level of LDL (bad cholesterol) has to be VERY, VERY high before the AAP recommends these medications. It is not as if the AAP is saying that anyone with slightly elevated LDL should go on medication. Normal LDL for children is less than 100. The AAP recommends medications for healthy children when the LDL is greater than 190. To date, I have never seen a patient with that high an LDL level. So it is not like the AAP wants to hand these medications out like candy!
Thanks so much for your comments.
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