Exercise in childhood reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases
Children under the age of 9 who have a daily physical activityespecially Beginning at 6 years, have less risk of suffering cardiovascular diseases, according to the results of an international study that has been directed by the Spanish researcher David Jiménez-Pavón, of the Zaragoza's University.
In particular, the work published by the journal "BMC Medicine" has shown that risk factor's for the development of a cardiovascular disease are between 2.5 and 5 times higher in boys and up to 7 times in girls with lower levels of activity.
The objective was to evaluate the association between physical activity measured objectively and cardiovascular risk factors such as systolic blood pressure, total triglycerides, the total cholesterol / HDL cholesterol ratio, insulin resistance, body fat and aerobic capacity.
For this, they analyzed the data related to 3,120 minors (1,016 from 2 to 6 years old, and 2,104 from 6 to 9 years old) which in turn are part of the European longitudinal study "IDEFICS" on Obesity and nutrition, which included 16,224 children between 2 and 9 years old, and whose first conclusions were presented in 2010 in Zaragoza.
The results of the current work show that in children under 6 years of age, the probability of having elevated the set of cardiovascular risk factors in those who were at the lowest level of physical activity was 2.5 higher than in more active children. This same probability for the range between 6 and 9 years ranged between 2.5 and 5 times more for children And till 7 times higher risk for less active girls.
Given these data, the authors of the study insist that health professionals should recommend between 60 and 85 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous physical activity, including at this time at least 20 minutes of vigorous exercise.
The data of this longitudinal study will allow to continue obtaining more information about habits and children's health in general, just as thanks to the "IDEFICS" study it has been possible to demonstrate that sleeping less than nine hours a day increases the risk of childhood overweight and obesity, that the rates of childhood obesity in southern Europe, especially in the Mediterranean arch, they surpass those in the north and that abandonment of the Mediterranean diet, along with a greater sendentarismo, have originated a greater prevalence of this epidemic in Italy, Spain and Cyprus, in front of countries like Belgium and Sweden.
It has also been possible to show that Spanish small children like tasty food and are, among Europeans, those that in greater degree opt for foods with more salt, sugar and fat.
