Disease Proof : Disease Proof : Health & Nutrition News & Commentary : Dr. Joel Fuhrman

A lot of people don’t realize it—I didn’t either—but heart diseases actually starts to develop at a young age. Hard to believe? Well, it won’t be after this. Here’s an excerpt from Dr. Fuhrman’s book Disease-Proof Your Child. Take a look:

There is considerable evidence that the lipoprotein abnormalities (high LDL and low HDL) that are linked to heart attack deaths in adulthood begin to develop in early childhood and that higher cholesterol levels eventually get “set” by early food habits.1 What we eat during our childhood affects our lifetime cholesterol levels…


… When we study people who died young of coronary artery disease, we find that the highest risk of an earlier death occurs in those who were above average weight in childhood.2 Findings from the famous Bogalusa Heart Study show that a high saturated fat intake early in life is strongly predictive of later heart disease burden and the higher blood pressure in childhood and adolescence is powerfully predictive of cardiovascular death in adulthood.3

And it seems diet isn’t the only thing upping kids’ risk of heart disease. Check this out. A new study claims too much television raises children’s blood pressure. The man, Robert Preidt of HealthDay News reports:

The finding "illustrates the need for considerable physician and family involvement to decrease TV time among obese children," study author Dr. Jeffrey B. Schwimmer, associate professor of pediatrics at University of California, San Diego, said in a prepared statement.


His team's study included 546 participants, ages 4 to 17, who were evaluated for obesity at clinics in California and Ohio from 2003 to 2005.

Information was collected on the amount of time the children spent watching TV, along with their body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure.

The researchers found that both the severity of obesity and the amount of time spent watching TV each day were significant independent predictors of hypertension.

So, what’s the modern medical answer? Improve diet, more exercise, and less TV? No! Instead, why not just give big pharma more money—oops! I mean prescribe heart drugs to young kids. Linda Johnson of the Associated Press reports, More Young Adults on Cholesterol Drugs:

Experts point to higher rates of obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol problems among young people. Also, doctors are getting more aggressive with preventive treatments.


"This is good news, that more people in this age range are taking these medicines," said Dr. Daniel W. Jones, president of the American Heart Association.

Still, he said many more people should be on the drugs that lower cholesterol or blood pressure and which have been shown to reduce risks for heart attack and stroke.

The new data, from prescription benefit manager Medco Health Solutions Inc., indicate use of cholesterol-lowering drugs among people aged 20 to 44, while still low, jumped 68 percent over a six-year period.

Pretty amazing if you ask me! I’m not a parent, but if my kid’s pediatrician prescribed him or her heart drugs I’d take that as a monumental parenting failure. What do you think?
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I like a good practical joke, but, I’m pretty sure if someone messed with my food they’d wake up with a knot on their forehead. Now, in the spirit of Halloween, this article from The New York Times is all about tricking kids into eating healthy food. More from the Well blog:

Cookbooks that teach parents how to hide veggies in food have hit the best-seller lists. But is tricking your kids into eating vegetables really a good idea?


“Deceptively Delicious,” by celebrity wife Jessica Seinfeld, and “The Sneaky Chef,” by Missy Chase Lapine, both offer similar advice about secretly slipping veggies into meals. Both books suggest that parents purée healthy foods like spinach, cauliflower and sweet potatoes and hide them in kid foods like macaroni and cheese or brownies…

….Susan Roberts, director of the energy metabolism laboratory at Tufts University, says parents should aim to improve the quality of the food they serve their kids — making lasagne with vegetables and wholewheat pasta, for instance. But parents shouldn’t give up on serving plain and simple vegetables, even if they have already added pureed cauliflower to the mac and cheese.

“The point of burying veggies in foods, in my view, is not to cram in veggies secretly, but to make recipes healthier so that there isn’t such a huge metabolic difference between indulgent treats and vegetables,'’ said Dr. Roberts.

Honestly, this approach means well, but come on! Is this reliable? I’d say it’s a ridiculous waste of time. Instead, teach kids the joy of eating healthfully. Dr. Fuhrman’s book Disease-Proof Your Child is all about this sort of thing. Here’s a snippet:

Parents are entrusted with the responsibility of securing the selection of healthy foods for the family and preparing the food in a way that makes it desirable. Children are responsible for deciding how much they eat. If they are in an environmental of healthful foods they will have no problem regulating variety and timing. They can choose what they eat, when they eat, and if they will eat. Don’t use food as a reward or punishment. Don’t offer a treat because the child was good or ate well. Offer healthy treats as part of the normal well-balanced diet.


No rules only for children. If the parents are not willing to follow the rules set for the house, they should not be imposed on the children. Don’t argue about what your children should and shouldn’t be eating; discuss this in private. As parents, we must be consistent, but not perfect. Likewise, it is okay for the children to be consistent, but not perfect either. For example, if the parents decide that an unhealthy food or a restaurant meal is acceptable for the children once per week, then that goes for the adults, too. Setting an example supported by both parents is the most important and most effective way for your children to develop a healthy attitude toward food.

Actually, Robin Quivers from The Howard Stern show touched on this a couple weeks ago and she also thought it was a total waste or time. And Robin would know! She recently took charge of her life and adopted a health-promoting vegetable-based diet. Congratulations Robin!

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Obesity research is a funny thing. Millions of dollars and lots of effort spent proving something that even the most lay of laymen already know is bad for us, is in fact, bad for us. Anyway, Robert Preidt of HealthDay News reports that obesity can harm children’s hearts. Check it out:

The study, by a team at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, included 168 children ages 10 to 18. All of the children had undergone cardiac ultrasound to check on symptoms such as heart murmur, chest pain, acid reflux or high blood cholesterol. Of the children, 33 were obese, 20 were at risk for obesity, and 115 were normal weight.


The researchers used a new tissue Doppler imaging technique called "vector velocity imaging" that can track the movement of the heart's muscular wall.

"In the patients who are obese, the rate of motion of heart muscle changed," Dr. Angela Sharkey, an associate professor of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine and a pediatric cardiologist at St. Louis Children's Hospital, said in a prepared statement. "As a child's BMIA (body mass index for age) increases, we see alterations in both the relaxation and contraction phase of the heartbeat. Many of these changes that have been seen in adults were assumed to be from long-standing obesity, but it may be that these changes start much earlier in life than we thought."

This study echoes Dr. Fuhrman’s sentiments. According him, it is kind of a no-brainer that heart disease starts young. He talks about it in his book Disease-Proof Your Child. Here’s a quote:

There is considerable evidence that the lipoprotein abnormalities (high LDL and low HDL) that are linked to heart attack deaths in adulthood begin to develop in early childhood and that higher cholesterol levels eventually get “set” by early food habits.1 What we eat during our childhood affects our lifetime cholesterol levels…


…When we study people who died young of coronary artery disease, we find that the highest risk of an earlier death occurs in those who were above average weight in childhood.2 Findings from the famous Bogalusa Heart Study show that a high saturated fat intake early in life is strongly predictive of later heart disease burden and the higher blood pressure in childhood and adolescence is powerfully predictive of cardiovascular death in adulthood.3

On a side note I was in the supermarket yesterday and I walked past a back-to-school display and in addition to the pens, notebooks, and folders, there were plenty of snack cakes, potato chips, and nachos—unreal!
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We actually might be headed down that road. The FDA is considering banning the sale of over-the-counter cough and cold medicines for young children. Steven Reinberg of HealthDay News explains why:

Such a ban already has the support of safety experts at the FDA, who published a 365-page review last month that showed decongestants and antihistamines have been linked with 123 pediatric deaths since 1969.


Many outside experts are also in favor of restricting children's access to cold remedies…

…"If these medicines are allegedly not effective or materially unsafe, how is the purchase of hundreds of millions of doses by parents to be explained?" asked Dr. George Goldstein, a pharmaceutical industry consultant who is a nonvoting member of the panel. "I don't believe the American caregiver or parent is, in a word, stupid."

Panel chairwoman Dr. Mary E. Tinetti, who is a professor at Yale University, said that many parents must think the drugs work and "are voting with their feet, so to speak."

She added that the number of children who are reported to have died after taking these medicines seemed relatively small compared to the millions given the drugs.

Yeah, why ban the sale of something dangerous when there is money to be made? Geez! Now, Dr. Fuhrman is no fan of these drugs, in fact, he contends they do more harm than good. Check this out from his book Disease-Proof Your Child:

Suppressing the fever and cough with medication can lead to a prolonged illness. In fact, cough suppressants and over-the-counter cold medicines expose children and adults to further side effects without significant effectiveness. We were taught in medical that cough suppressants do not work well, which is good, because if the cough was really suppressed, the mucous would settle deep into the lung and cause pneumonia. The most common cough suppressants contain dextromethorphan and codeine. A head-to-head comparison between placebo and these cough remedies showed that the placebo worked just as well. All children improved significantly by day three, and there was no difference among the three treatment groups in any symptom parameter.1

For more on this, check out these previous posts:

• Cold Medicine...Yanked!
• Report: Cold Medicine and Babies Don't Mix

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The pursuit of weight loss is a big deal. Millions of dollars and a whole-lot of effort are being expended in order drop a few pounds, and apparently, it’s all in vain. At least as far as kids are concerned. According to the Associated Press, kids just can’t keep the weight off. Here’s more:

A team led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that obese children who lost weight kept it off if they were in a maintenance program, but its effectiveness waned over time.


The research involving 150 overweight 7- to 12-year-olds is one of the first large-scale studies to evaluate the long-term effects of weight-loss maintenance strategies in children.

The study, which appeared in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, also is the first to look at whether heavy kids benefited from being encouraged to play with more physically active peers, cope with teasing, and develop an improved body image.

"We know from the adult field that the biggest challenge is not losing weight — it's keeping it off in the long term," said lead author Denise Wilfley, who heads the weight management program at Washington University.

Now, regarding kids, the answer is clear. It all starts with the parents. Dr. Fuhrman will tell you, you want your kids to eat healthfully and stay fit? It’s all up to you. He talks about it in great detail in his book Disease-Proof Your Child. Take a look:

The number of children who are overweight in the United States has more than doubled during the past decade. Social forces, from the demise of cooking to the rise of fast food, as well as dramatic increases in snack food and soda consumption, have led to the most overweight population of children in human history. Added to this dietary disaster is television, computer, and video technology that entertains our youngsters while they are physically inactive. Unless parents take a proactive role in promoting and assuring adequate nutrition and an active lifestyle, you can be sure the children of American will continue this downward spiral into obesity and ill health. Obese children suffer physically and emotionally throughout childhood and then invariably suffer with adult heart disease, and a higher cancer incidence down the road…


…Parents must be responsible for our health and the health of our children. We parents have a huge responsibility and can help guide and shape our offspring into health and happy adults, or, through abuse, neglect, ignorance, and even convenience, we can damage their future. We know with certainty that the foods we feed our kids during childhood play a large role in dictating their future health…

…It is important to realize that it is never too late to teach your children the importance of eating healthy. As you learn, share enthusiastically with them. Work on improving your diets together. If your child is a teenager, let her read what you are reading. You may want to add that it will help their complexion and body shape. Even teenagers will make beneficial improvements in their diets when presented with compelling reasons. I have lectured to high school assemblies many times and am always impressed by how interested, enthusiastic, and willing to make changes teenagers can be. Research supports this willingness of adolescents to make significant dietary change when presented with accurate compelling information.1

If this seems hard or too much responsibility, consider these tips, they’ll help you out. Here’re Dr. Fuhrman’s secrets to getting your children to eat healthfully:

1. Keep only healthy food in the house. Every person in the household should have the same food choices available.


2. Offer and feed a wholesome diversity of natural foods, vegetables, beans, raw nuts, seeds, and fresh fruit, while giving each child as much latitude as possible to eat what they prefer.

3. Don't attempt to manage your children's caloric intake. They can do that on their own.

4. If you, as parents, do not demonstrate proper respect for your own bodies by eating healthy, exercising regularly, and engaging in other healthful lifestyle practices, don't expect your children to do any better than you, now or in the future.

5. Educate your children about their nutritional needs and the importance of eating healthfully. Start this when they are young and continue to reinforce their learning, as they will be exposed to more toxic food choices as they get older and spend more time out of their home.

Sure, it might be a little hard work and require some thought, but isn’t your children’s health worth it?
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ParentDish asks an important question, “What kind of eating habits are you passing on to your kids?” Let’s have a look-see:

I grew up hating to cook, mostly because in my family that was what girls/women were expected to do (my father never prepared a meal for our family in my entire childhood.) And only recently have come around to the idea that cooking can be fun.


My husband on the other hand, came from a family of vivacious Italians who love to cook and love to eat. Overrating is an art form at their house. You get your money's worth at buffets. Snacking is a regular night time activity. Food is rich and decadent: fresh sausages with basil; fresh mozzarella; canolis; ricotta; Panchito. My husband is a dream in the kitchen. Give him any five ingredients and he can make a five-star meal.

We want to come to some sort of balance between us: sharing with Bean a vivacious enjoyment of food and food culture; while also modeling the healthful moderate eating habits that lead to lifelong health.

It’s a great question. Dr. Fuhrman will tell you, the way you eat SERIOUSLY influences the way your kids eat. Here’s a quote from his book Disease-Proof Your Child:

As parents, we must be consistent, but not perfect. Likewise, it is okay for the children to be consistent, but not perfect either. For example, if the parents decide that an unhealthy food or a restaurant meal is acceptable for the children once per week, then that goes for the adults, too. Setting an example supported by both parents is the most important and most effective way for your children to develop a healthy attitude toward food.

Who would have thought—kids are easily influenced! No. You don’t say?

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New research reports breast milk really helps premature babies. Reuters reports:

A second study on breast feeding found that it does not raise the risk that children will develop tooth decay later in life, as some earlier research had suggested.


Both reports were published in the October issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The premature infant study involved 773 U.S. babies born extremely underweight -- less than 2.2 pounds (1 kg) -- between 1999 and 2002.

It found that babies in the group given breast milk got higher scores on a test measuring their overall intelligence at 30 months of age, with the highest scores showing up among the children who had received the most breast milk as infants.

Dr. Fuhrman’s a huge advocate of breastfeeding. From Disease-Proof Your Child:

The antibodies derived from mother’s milk are necessary for maximizing immune system function, maximizing intelligence, and protecting against immune system disorders, allergies, and even cancer. The child’s immune system is still underdeveloped until age of two, the same age when the digestive tract seals the leaks (spaces between cells) designed to allow the mother’s antibodies access to the bloodstream. So picking the age of two as the length of recommended breast-feeding is not just a haphazard guess, it matches the age at which the child is no longer absorbing the mother’s immunoglobulins to supplement their own immune system. Nature designed it that way.

I’m no doctor, but, it seems obvious that all this would benefit preemies—right?

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