Cholesterol will affect not only adults; you can observe high cholesterol levels in kids also.
The kids with excess cholesterol will face much health problems when they get older.
The excess cholesterol present in kids will lead to the development of plaque on the walls of the arteries, which will help to supply blood to heart and other organs.
Plaque which is obtained in kids with excess cholesterol makes the arteries narrow and creates severe heart problems by blocking the flow of blood to the heart. There are several causes for obtaining high cholesterol in kids.
The three risk factors which leads to obtain high cholesterol in kids:
- Diet
- Obesity [Child Obesity Problems]
- Heredity- passed from mother to baby
How to diagnose excess cholesterol in kids:
- Health care professionals can be able to check the cholesterol level in small kids with a sample blood test.
- Testing cholesterol level in small kids is necessary, if there is a strong family history of high cholesterol levels or heart attacks.
- The sample blood test results will help you to reveal whether your child have excess cholesterol or not.
- The borderline of cholesterol level in children ranges from 170 to 199 mg/dL.
- The cholesterol levels are considered high if the kid exceeds border line. That means if the kid exceeds more than 200 mg/dL.
Tips for parents to high cholesterol in kids:
- Changing the fad diet into healthy foods will certainly help to low cholesterol level in high cholesterol kids.
- The various foods which lead to develop excess cholesterol level are meat, egg yolks, sea foods, poultry, and whole milk dairy products including cheese, milk and ice-cream.
- Parents should make their high cholesterol kids to eat the foods which are low in calories, total fat and saturated fats. The amount of fat that your child should consume per day should be less than 45 to 65 grams per day.
- High cholesterol kids should perform exercise daily. The most preferable exercises for them are aerobics, biking, running, walking and swimming. These are the best exercises which will help to burn more calories with in short period of time.
- Cardiovascular workouts are also preferable for high cholesterol kids. These various exercises will help to raise HDL levels, by lowering your family’s risk for cardiovascular disease.
- You have to keep watch on your kid’s weight. You should motivate him to maintain healthy weight.
- Substitute unsaturated fats instead of saturated fat foods.
- Select the variety of foods by which your child will get all the essential nutrients required for him.
- Give them grilled or baked foods instead of frying foods.
Don’t give medications of high cholesterol to your kids in small age, because it’s not safe to use high cholesterol medications in small age.
Several side effects will be caused to your kids by using medications for excess cholesterol. Try to reduce the cholesterol level through natural diet and exercise.
