Intake of Good Cholesterol Lowers Metabolic Syndrome Severity in US Teens

Eating a diet rich in unsaturated foods could be a key in fighting childhood metabolic syndrome, revealed a new study.

The study published in the Journal Pediatrics looked at the trends in metabolic syndrome severity among children and teenagers in the US. Childhood metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of risk factors such as belly fat and poor cholesterol levels that increase the risk of stroke, heart disease and diabetes.

Metabolic Syndrome - About
Metabolic Syndrome is associated with sedentary lifestyle .It makes a person more prone to develop type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease.

‘There was a decreasing trend of metabolic syndrome severity due to increased consumption of good cholesterol (HDL) among adolescents in the U.S.’

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Researchers from the University of Virginia examined 5,000 children in the age group of 12 -19 years who were a part of the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) completed between 1999 and 2012.

They found a decreasing trend in metabolic syndrome among the teens. But their BMI score was higher and had no changes in physical activity levels. The decrease in triglycerides and increase in lipoproteins were the main reason for the decline of MetS.

Researchers found that the rate of metabolic syndrome among the teens held steady during the study period. But the severity of the syndrome decreased. Children consumed lesser amount of carbohydrates, calories and higher levels of good cholesterol (HDL).

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“While we don't know for sure why these improvements occurred, we saw that over time, children have eaten healthier diets, eating fewer calories overall, less carbohydrates and more food with unsaturated fat. This supports the important idea that changes to your lifestyle choices are the key to improving cardiovascular risk status,” said study author Dr. Mark DeBoer, an associate professor of pediatrics, University of Virginia.

Reference: Mark D. DeBoer et al. “Trends in Metabolic Syndrome Severity and Lifestyle Factors Among Adolescents,” Pediatrics, DOI:10.1542/peds.2015-3177.

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