Study: Junk food raises teens' risk of heart disease

March 14, 2000
Web posted at: 5:59 p.m. EST (2259 GMT)

In this story: Ultrasound measures thickness of artery walls Bad eating habits hard to break RELATED STORIES, SITES

ANAHEIM, California (CNN) -- Staying away from high-fat, high-cholesterol foods isn't just a warning for adults to heed. A new study of teen-agers found one-third of them had increased their heart disease risk factors with junk food diets that could lead to high blood pressure and clogged arteries as they grow older.

VIDEO CNN's Elizabeth Cohen explains the study. Windows Media 28K 80K     RESOURCES Cholesterol levels in children and adolescents

The findings were presented Monday at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology, held in Anaheim, California.

Researchers at the Pacific Health Education Center in Bakersfield, California, and Prevention Concepts, Inc., in Los Angeles evaluated the dietary habits and cardiac risk profiles of more than 200 high school students.

More than 80 percent of them consumed higher than recommended levels of total and saturated fat, while dietary cholesterol was excessive in 49 percent.

Cholesterol levels were considered abnormally high for the age in one-third of the participants, and approximately one in 10 had systolic hypertension, a form of high blood pressure.

To compare high-risk teens with their healthy counterparts, researchers used ultrasound to measure the thickness of the neck's primary artery, the carotid artery.

Teens with the thickest artery walls were likely to be those who were overweight or had high blood pressure or high cholesterol -- all common risk factors for heart disease in adulthood.

Thickening of the arteries is not dangerous in itself, but a buildup of small fatty deposits can be an early indicator of atherosclerosis -- an abnormal thickening of artery walls.

This isn't the first time researchers have found that teen-agers, even children, are showing early signs of heart disease. Health experts, unsure how to overcome the alarming trend, say they are hampered by:

  • Teen attitudes: There is a sense invincibility among teenagers that convinces them they can eat anything they want.

  • Lack of funds: Millions of advertising dollars are spent to promote fast foods. By contrast, the federal government has a relatively small amount of money to promote the concept of eating five daily servings of fruits and vegetables. "We have not been able to get the message out," said Dr. William Dietz of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen contributed to this report

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American College of Cardiology
Pacific Health Education Center
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
American Heart Association National Center

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