Health Risks on the Rise
More people around the world are dealing with high blood pressure and obesity.
This is a big problem, despite lots of work being done to get people to eat better, exercise more, and sit less.
This serious situation has made the American Heart Association call for more research into obesity and high blood pressure to help solve this health crisis.
Understanding Arterial Stiffness
In older adults, a condition called arterial stiffness can be a sign that someone might have serious heart problems or even die.
Because of this, some studies are being done to see if it’s possible to reverse arterial stiffness in adults.
But in kids, teenagers, and young adults, arterial stiffness is often overlooked. This is mainly because there isn’t a lot of data that follows these groups over time.
Also, the link between arterial stiffness and early heart and metabolic diseases in young people isn’t well known.
Arterial Stiffness: A New Risk Factor
A new study looked at a large group of teenagers and middle-aged people.
The study found that arterial stiffness might be a new risk factor for high blood pressure, overweight/obesity, insulin resistance, unhealthy cholesterol levels, and type 2 diabetes.
People often wonder, what could make arterial stiffness worse in teenagers?
It seems like things like the mother’s smoking habits, the child’s smoking habits, eating too much salt, genes, obesity, and high blood pressure that starts in childhood might all play a part.
Addressing the Problem
“Arterial stiffness in teenagers could be a hidden but powerful risk factor for high blood pressure and changes in the body’s metabolism.
These changes can lead to diseases like type 2 diabetes and damage to organs at a young age,” says Andrew Agbaje, a doctor and clinical epidemiologist at the University of Eastern Finland.
“Because of this, it’s important for doctors, pediatricians, public health experts, and policymakers to figure out ways to treat, reduce, and maybe even reverse arterial stiffness, especially in teenagers.
Doing this could lower the number of people with high blood pressure and metabolic diseases in the future. However, we need more studies to be sure.”
If you care about blood pressure, please read studies about unhealthy habits that could increase high blood pressure risk, and Vitamin B can help reduce drug-resistant high blood pressure.
For more information about blood pressure, please see recent studies that early time-restricted eating could help improve blood pressure, and results showing Marijuana may strongly increase death risk in high blood pressure.
The study was published in the Journal of Hypertension.
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