Preventing Strokes in Children: Has the Obesity Epidemic Gone Too Far?
Strokes on the rise among youth!!
At the recent American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference, a news release announced that researchers at Center for Disease Control (CDC) found a decrease in acute ischemic stroke hospitalizations in middle-aged patients. However, they also discovered an increase in acute ischemic stroke hospitalizations for those patients under 35 years old -including teens and children. (1)
Public Health authorities are reluctant to make any connection as to why the younger American population has seen a rise in incidence of stroke.
However, Xin Tong (M.P.H.) who works with CDC, mentioned that they would likely be looking at the role of obesity and hypertension.
Diet and Obesity
Diet is not the only factor that affects obesity and hypertension, but it plays a fairly substantial role in determining whether or not these conditions develop. Late January, a week before the American Stroke Association Conference, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a press release announcing the “New Dietary Guidelines to Help Americans Make Healthier Food Choices and Confront the Obesity Epidemic.”
In their announcement, they “encourage Americans to consume more healthy foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fat-free and low-fat dairy products, and seafood, and to consume less sodium and trans fats, added sugars, and refined grains”. (2)
While the effort is there, unfortunately this list does not address the primary health concerns of most Americans, such as chronic degenerative diseases that are now showing up in the younger population due to the inherent intelligence of epigenomics and even microflora.
Can you believe that the cover of the 2010 pamphlet of Dietary Guidelines features an opened can of refried beans, a bowl of penne, and a shopping bag overflowing with vegetables?
Suggesting to the American public that processed foods, such as a can of beans or a box of pasta, are health-fortifying is perhaps a meaningful element that perpetuates not only obesity but several disease conditions that most Americans can expect to experience as they reach old age.
What a person eats greatly affects the inflammatory cascade.
The USDA/HHS letter also asks Americans to “compare sodium in foods like [packaged] soup, bread, and frozen meals – and choose foods with lower numbers.” The lesser of two evils. What about educating the American public about the importance of mineral-rich salts and homemade foods? Even if you are a mother with three mouths to feed, there are natural fast foods, such as sticks of raw carrot or a few sunflower seeds, that take little effort to prepare.
Lightly cooking leafy greens in coconut oil and sprinkling them with Celtic sea salt or dulse takes mere minutes. And yet, USDA/HHS warns against high sodium foods and labels coconut oil as a saturated fat, which is, according to them, best left alone when fighting the national obesity epidemic.
American children are taught that fat makes them fat.
Excess sugar and carbohydrates are what prompt the body to store extra weight. USDA/HSS emphasizes the importance of consuming fat-free or low-fat milk. This, again, is unfortunate. It perpetuates the fat-phobia that many Americans have and also fails to educate the American public about the many nutrients available in full-fat products that are simply lost after processing.
Vitamin K2 – found most abundantly in full-fat dairy like cheese and butter and also in goose liver, has actually been found to protect the heart against heart disease. A deficiency in Vitamin K2 has been shown to cause calcification of the cardiovascular system. Additionally, K2 regulates the inflammatory response and the accumulation of lipids and white blood cells that characterize atherosclerosis. (3)
The oils that USDA/HSS does recommend are vegetable oils, such as corn, soybean, and canola oil. These oils are usually refined and partially hydrogenated, destroying the LNA, a good omega-3 fatty acid called alpha-linolenic acid. Corn oil is usually partially rancid at purchase with a peroxide value (PV) of 40 to 60. Most other oils fall under a PV of 10. (4) Keep in mind that each cell in your body has a cell wall made of phospholipids, fats. The fats you choose to eat are the fats that are used in building the cell walls in your body.
You literally are what you eat.
Probiotic beverages are the essential first step to balancing your body ecology and preventing obesity. Enjoy probiotic beverages and fermented foods as a family to reduce your child’s risk for stroke!
Stroke Risk in Today’s Youth
The prevalence of stroke in American youth possibly has a relationship to the diet that is available on market shelves and taught in schools. The USDA food pyramid taught to children is very similar to the letter USDA/HSS released in January: friendly pictures and bright colors that recommend we drink low-fat milk several times a day, eat low-fat proteins, and be sure to make the switch to veggie oils. (5)
Probably the most erroneous thing written on the poster for children and teachers is that “added sugar contributes added calories, with few, if any nutrients.” Besides the fact that no one needs to count calories if they are eating a healthy and well balanced diet filled with foods that have life force, there are no nutrients in added sugar.
Fermented Foods Can Prevent Obesity
More people are learning about the drastic benefits of fermented foods, the enormous value of enzymes and healthy microflora in the gut, and why minerals are so valuable to maintaining a vibrant mental and physical state.
It seems that public health and public health regulators like USDA and HSS are somewhat out-dated in their effort to “confront the obesity epidemic”. The more we teach our children about their own body and about the many benefits available to them in foods that are unprocessed, organic, and homemade, the healthier the American youth will be.
Teach yourself, your family, and your friends to incorporate fermented foods in the diet. Maybe you will have the opportunity to get involved in school or neighborhood outreach programs that dispel old food myths and emphasize the healing benefits of food!
WHAT TO REMEMBER MOST ABOUT THIS ARTICLE:
The risk of stroke is on the rise for today’s youth, and it could be linked to hypertension and obesity. Diet plays a role in obesity, but unfortunately the USDA supports a diet that is full of processed foods that will only further contribute to the obesity epidemic. On top of that, children in the US today have a fat-phobia and believe that eating fatty foods will make them fat – when healthy fats that contain vitamin K2 are actually necessary to protect the heart from heart disease!
In order to prevent the risk of stroke in youth today, it is essential that they understand that you really are what you eat. We can make a difference by introducing beneficial fermented foods to our family to teach our children that homemade and unprocessed foods can help them maintain a healthy weight and reduce the risk of disease for the future.
REFERENCES:
- Elena V. Kuklina, M.D., Ph.D.; Cathleen Gillespie, M.S.; and Mary G. George, M.D., M.S.P.H. “Ischemic stroke hospitalizations decline in middle aged, elderly, increases in young.” American Stroke Association Meeting Report: Abstract MP70. 2011, Feb 09. http://www.newsroom.heart.org/index.php?s=43&item=1250
- “USDA and HHS Announce New Dietary Guidelines to Help Americans Make Healthier Food Choices and Confront Obesity Epidemic.” USDA Press Release: Office of Communications, Washington. 2011, Jan 31. http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/DietaryGuidelines/2010/PolicyDoc/PressRelease.pdf
- Geleijnse JM, Vermeer C, Grobbee DE, Schurgers LJ, Knapen MHJ, van der Meer IM, Hofman A, Witteman JCM. Dietary Intake of Menaquinone Is Associated with a Reduced Risk of Coronary Heart Disease: The Rotterdam Study. J Nutr. 2004; 134: 3100-3105.
- Erasmus, Udo. Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill. Alive Books: Summertown, 1993. 236 – 239.
- “Tips for Families.” USDA: For Kids. Last Modified: February 09, 2011 03:24. http://teamnutrition.usda.gov/resources/mpk_tips.pdf
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