Children's Health: Majority Of United States Children Do Not Have Ideal Heart Health

Parents, your children most likely are not meeting health standards when it comes to their hearts.  According to a statement the American Heart Association (AHA), American children aged two to 19 are not able to meet their prescribed cardiovascular health standards. This statement was published in the journal Circulation.

According to Medical News Today, the AHA employs seven health metrics and indicators to identify the state of a child's cardiovascular health. These variables are smoking status, body mass index, physical activity level, healthy diet score, total cholesterol, blood pressure and fasting blood glucose. A nationwide survey in 2007-2008 revealed that American children were failing most of the standards.

Many children's heart health not up to standards https://t.co/b0rZz6kf1K

— Fox News Health (@foxnewshealth) August 12, 2016

"The primary reason kids fell out of cardiovascular health is diet and physical activity," said Dr. Julia Steinberger, as per a report in Fox News. Steinberger is the lead author of the AHA statement and is also the director of pediatric cardiology at the University of Minnesota. Steinberger was quoted as saying that the poor diet seen in American children was due to their intake of sugary food and drinks.

The report added that American children were found lacking in physical activity, with only about half of boys and a third of girls aged between six to 11 able to accomplish the ideal one hour of daily physical activity. Older American children who were aged 16 to 19 were reportedly found to be less likely from accomplishing the recommended amount of daily physical activity.

MedPage Today reported that only 50 percent to 60 percent of American adolescents reported having an ideal BMI while those reporting poor BMI constituted 19 to 27 percent. The 2007 to 2008 survey also reportedly found that around a third of American adolescents said they smoked a cigarette within the last 30 days of answering the health survey.

According to the report, 26 percent to 35 percent of American adolescents had intermediate or poor cholesterol while 20 to 38 percent of them had a status of either intermediate or poor in terms of fasting blood glucose. Notably, a positive result was the high percentage of 90 percent of American children who were found to have an ideal blood pressure.