'Healthy' obese kids may have heart risk

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Being obese as early as age 7 may raise a child's risk of future heart disease and stroke, even in the absence of other risk factors, U.S. researchers say.

Senior author Dr. Nelly Mauras of Nemours Children's Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., says obese children are showing higher levels of clotting factor and inflammation as early as age 7.

The study, scheduled to be published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, looked at children age 7-18 years old -- 115 were obese and 87 were lean controls. To be eligible for the study the children had to show normal levels of fasting blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol and triglycerides. In other words, the children could show just one sign of the metabolic syndrome known to raise the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes -- increased waist size.

The obese children -- versus the controls -- had significantly higher levels of the clotting factor fibrinogen as well as 10-fold higher levels of the inflammation marker C-reactive protein.

"Doctors often do not treat obesity in children now unless they have other features of the metabolic syndrome," Mauras says in a statement. "This practice should be reconsidered. Further studies are needed to offer more insight into the effects of therapeutic interventions in these children."