High cholesterol in children, what is the cause? & bull; hello healthy

Don't think high cholesterol is a condition that can only occur in adults. It turns out that even small children can have high cholesterol. How come? This could happen for many reasons. As a result, high cholesterol in children can cause them to suffer from cholesterol-related diseases, such as heart disease and stroke.

What causes high cholesterol in children?

High cholesterol in children can occur due to the following three factors:

Heredity (from parents to children). In many cases, children with high cholesterol have both parents or one of their parents who also has high cholesterol levels.
Diet or diet. Usually children like to eat foods that are fried, have a savory taste, and also contain lots of fat, salt and sugar. Often eating foods that contain high fats (especially saturated fats and trans fats) in large quantities can make cholesterol in the child's body accumulate, causing the child to have high cholesterol.
Obesity. Being overweight in children is caused by a poor diet in children and lack of physical activity. This also contributes to the risk of children having high cholesterol levels.

So, if your child has one of the three factors above, you should be more careful in giving food to children. Try to always provide healthy and nutritious food to children and make sure the child does sports or has frequent activities. Too long in front of the television while snacking is a habit that is not good for children.

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Children who do a lot of activity, often eat healthy foods, don't have a family history of high cholesterol or heart disease, and are not overweight have a lower risk of having high cholesterol.

How do you know your child has high cholesterol?

To find out whether your child has high cholesterol or not can be done by taking a cholesterol test. Taking a cholesterol test is very important for children, not just for adults.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all children have a cholesterol test between the ages of 9 and 11 and between the ages of 17 and 21. This is especially recommended for children with:

One or both of the child's parents have high cholesterol (more than 240 mg / dL)
Family history of heart disease, especially if there are family members who have heart disease at the age of 55 years for men or age 65 years for women
Being overweight or obese
Have additional risk factors, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, or smoking

After taking a cholesterol test, you can find out what your child's cholesterol level is. Then you can determine which category the results fall into. Based on National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP), the limits for total cholesterol and bad cholesterol (LDL) for children aged 2-18 years are:

High cholesterol, characterized by total cholesterol in children of 200 mg / dL or more and a child's LDL cholesterol level of 130 mg / dL or more.
High cholesterol limit, that is, total cholesterol levels in children between 170-199 mg / dL and LDL cholesterol between 110-129 mg / dL. In this range, children must be careful because if allowed to children, they could have high cholesterol levels.
Normal cholesterol, characterized by total cholesterol levels in children less than 170 mg / dL and LDL cholesterol levels in children less than 110 mg / dL.

What if the child has high cholesterol levels?

Relax, high cholesterol levels in children can still be lowered. The best way to lower children's cholesterol levels is to change the child's eating habits and get children to do regular exercise. If this method still doesn't work, your child may need cholesterol-lowering drugs. However, this drug can only be given to children who are older than 8 years and with doctor's instructions.

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Some ways that can be done to reduce cholesterol levels in children are:

1. Pay attention to children's fat consumption

Provide children with foods that contain total fat, saturated fat, and low cholesterol. Choose milk that is free or low-fat to give to children. Use vegetable oil or trans fat free margarine for cooking. The following are the limits for fat intake for children:

The total amount of fat a child should consume in a day is 30% or less of total calories per day (45-65 grams of fat per day).
Saturated fat intake should be less than 10% of total calories per day. For children who fall into the high risk category, saturated fat intake should be limited to only 7% of total calories per day.
Cholesterol intake in children should be limited to less than 300 mg per day. Meanwhile, for children who fall into the high-risk category, cholesterol intake should only be 200 mg per day.
Foods that contain trans fats should be avoided as much as possible.

2. Get the child used to exercise every day

Moderate daily exercise, such as walking, cycling, running, and swimming can help lower bad cholesterol levels and increase good cholesterol levels in children.

3. Pay attention to the child's weight

If the child's weight is within the normal range, you should continue to maintain it. Meanwhile, if the child is overweight, try to lose weight.

4. Replace children's food with healthy food

Fat is still needed by children. This does not mean that you should forbid children from eating fatty foods. But, choose foods that contain healthy fats for children. You can replace foods that contain saturated fat with foods that contain unsaturated fats. This is much healthier and can meet the fat needs of the child. Some examples of foods that contain unsaturated fats are avocado, nuts, fish, olive oil, and canola oil.

5. Give the child plenty of healthy foods

This is so that children get all the nutrients they need. Provide children with a variety of fruits, vegetables, and foods made with whole grains. If you are giving meat, try to provide lean meat. In addition, other sources of protein are fish and nuts. Limit consumption of foods or drinks that contain added sugar or artificial sweeteners. Also, limit the provision of packaged food for children.

6. Read the nutritional value information

If buying packaged food for children, you should first read the nutritional value information on the packaging before buying it. From the table of nutritional value information, you can see how much fat content is in the packaged food per serving. So, this makes it easier for you to limit your child's fat consumption.

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