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Children & High Cholesterol

High cholesterol and children:

Detecting and treating high cholesterol in children is important to protect them against heart disease later in life. Darren Barrere looks like your average 13 year old, but his cholesterol levels tell a different story. Doctors said his numbers were off the charts and his vascular health was at risk. "My grandpa on my dad's side died of a heart attack at the age of 32. My dad has had high cholesterol his whole life."

According to the American Heart Association, there are millions of children who have high cholesterol. The key cause of high cholesterol in children is genetic predisposition, made worse by a poor diet. Dr. Marguerite Engler and Dr. Mary Engler, twin sisters and researchers at the University of California, study high cholesterol in children. Dr. Marguerite Engler says, "We find cases of children with high cholesterol in children as young as 12 years old. It's not uncommon to find fatty deposits in their arteries which can lead to coronary heart disease later on in life."

The Englers recently conducted a study involving 20 children with high cholesterol which according to the American Heart Association is a total count of 200 or higher. Children with high cholesterol were given DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid most commonly found in fatty fish. It's also found in tissue throughout the body, important for normal brain, eye and nervous system development. "We gave them 1.2 grams of DHA every day for 6 weeks, and at the end of that we found it improved the ability of their blood vessels to dilate and that's a good indicator of cardiovascular health"says Dr. Engler The study also found that DHA improved the quality of children's LDL, also known as the bad cholesterol. The DHA helped make the actual cholesterol larger, reducing the harmful effects of bad cholesterol. "It made it bigger and fluffier so it floats in your blood stream easier without it being taken up by the arterial wall or the artery wall which starts building up to heart disease" says Dr. Engler.

Darren has struggled to get his cholesterol down trying stringent diets and closely monitoring his fat intake. He enrolled in the Engler study and as a result, the DHA made his bad cholesterol less dangerous. "I take 200 mgs a day of DHA and figure I'll probably be taking DHA my whole life." That's ok with Darren, since he knows the payoff is priceless. "I'm just really glad that I did this, because it's another thing I could do to reduce my risks of heart attacks." According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children and teens, in New York and elsewhere, should get their blood cholesterol checked if either they have a parent with a cholesterol higher than 240 or if they have a parent or grandparent who suffered a stroke or heart attack at the age of 55 or younger.

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