Teenage Weight Issues Affect Adulthood Badly in the Form of Heart Muscle Disease

Risk of Cardiomyopathy Increases As Weight Increases

Chubby cheeks and a roly-poly body may be definition of a ‘cute’ baby but as the same baby grows up, he/she is expected to shed away extra fat and stay on a healthy body weight. School-going kids face ample trouble due to issues with body shaming, teasing and mockery. Overweight/obese children become heartbroken due to being isolated by their fellow classmates in sport activities and, apart from physical health they face immense issues with emotional and mental well-being too. If we look, on one side happiness is a state of mind and it is absolutely in our hands to keep ourselves unshaken by the factors surrounding us. Ignoring gross comments and name-calling owing to excess weight is possible but what’s not possible to ignore is the side effects of this excess weight on our physical body. Obesity/overweight rates have tremendously peaked in children and this can jeopardize the health of our future generations.

Obese Teens are at an Increased Risk of Heart-related Diseases as Adults
Excess body weight is a risk factor for elevated blood sugar and blood pressure levels, cardiac ailments and stroke in any individual. A recent study has found that men who were even slightly overweight around the age of 18 were likelier to develop cardiomyopathy in adulthood compared to those who have a normal body weight during the same age.

Cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle that can cause heart failure. As cardiomyopathy progresses the heart becomes weaker, heartbeat becomes irregular, can lead to heart valve problems and also a condition called as ‘broken heart syndrome’. The syndrome definitely lives up to its name and if you are curious to know more details about it please visit the website www.firsteatright.com. While cardiomyopathy can be inherited or acquired due to other health conditions the actual cause is remains unknown in many cases, especially in children. The Swedish study discussed here is an eye-opener in the sense that, excess body weight nearing adulthood exists as a risk factor for cardiomyopathy.

The research group noted down measurements of height, weight and fitness levels of more than 16 million men who were 18 or 19 years old and enlisted in compulsory military service. Almost 10% of them were overweight and 2% were obese at the start of the study. The study group followed all of them up to the age of 46 during which 4,477 were diagnosed with cardiomyopathy at an average age of 45.5. Those who had a BMI number less than 20 were at the lowest risk of the disease while those who were only at the other end of the normal BMI range (22-25) were at a higher risk. This clearly shows that risk for cardiomyopathy increases as the body weight increases. Men who had a BMI above 35 were at an 8-times higher risk of dilated cardiomyopathy (heart muscles become weak and cannot pump blood efficiently) compared to those who had a lean body and a very normal BMI.
The study clearly indicates two points:

1. There is a crystal-clear link between being obese/overweight during teenage and early onset of heart failure
2. Risk of cardiomyopathy increases steadily as weight increases
   
   

Generally, cardiomyopathy is a rare disease and, in this study, too, only 0.27% of men were diagnosed with one or the other form of cardiomyopathy. The study also doesn’t probe into the reasons of how or whether obesity directly causes this disease or whether the same results are applicable on the female gender too. Still, the researchers have a theory on this. Obesity causes high levels of the hormones insulin and leptin, both of which could play an important role in cardiomyopathy and when our body is exposed to these hormones continuously it could affect our heart muscle structure and function. Whatever be it, our duty is to stay on a healthy body weight by exercising regularly and eating a nutritious diet to avoid any health consequences.