OT 4yr with high cholesterol

[hopesmommy]

I need help with how to handle my 4yr DD having high cholesterol. The doc is not too worried. She said to increase her fiber, increase her exercise, and reduce her fat intake. Doc said they would retest her in a year. DD is NOT at all overweight. She eats all kinds of veggie...broccoli, lima beans, peas, asparagus, and all the normal veggies. She loves fruit. The only two she does not eat are spinich and watermellon. She does not eat much meat and when she does it is low fat. I do not fry much food (DH has high cholesterol and high blood pressure) and if I do it is in very little olive oil. She eats oatmeal and other whole grain cereals. She does not eat many french fries or potatoes. She does eat crackers (goldfish). I have started giving her Wheat Thins. She does not eat much candy. I already use whole grain breads and pasta. The one area I know I should cut out is mac n' cheese, but sometimes this is all she will eat.

As for exercise, she is in school three times a week and they have outside play time and gross motor class. She also does gymnastics all year. During the summer, we enroll her in swim class and ballet. She rides her bike, plays at the park and runs all around. I would not know how to increase a 4yr old's exercise! (At least without killing me )

If anyone has any information that could help, please let me know. I am concerned because DH high cholesterol and my dad's heart problems with high cholesterol.

Thank you in advance!

 

[mommyceratops]

I don't have any advise for you but I would be alarmed too.

 

[grlpwrd]

Have you all consulted with a nutritionist or dietician? I've had to consult with both for my own diagnosis of high cholesterol a while back and when I had gestational diabetes and they gave me pointers for my children's diet because we have a family history of health problems.

We need to stay away from packaged foods and treats, even those crackers and mac and cheese meals. The American Heart Association recommends we eat foods low in saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, and added sugars. They also recommend that total fat intake should be 30% or less of your total calories and that saturated fat should be 10% or less. Even the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends kids age 2 to 18 consume less than 10% of their total calories from saturated fat. It's the saturated fats and transfats/hydrogenated oils that are bad for all of us, really.

Besides the basic guidelines (ie eat more whole grains and produce, etc.) I was also told to follow AHA guidelines such as:

- limit our intake of popular foods with high saturated fat, such as french fries, pizza, and ice cream.

- limit juice consumption.

- don't overeat.

- eat only nonfat or lowfat dairy products

I also take supplements to aid in lowering my cholesterol (like omega-3 fatty acids capsules) and I try to eat fish several times a week, but I am an adult and your dd has different needs because she is a child so check with her dr. and consult with him first.

Here's the AHA page for a table on dietary recommendations for kids:

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3033999

GL!

 

[Mom to Jordan]

Well, I might win worst mom of the year for it but we declined to have our child's cholesterol checked when he was younger. DH has slightly elevated levels so the Dr suggested testing DS. i asked him if they treated children and he said almost never. WE tried to feed DS the right foods and to create a healthy lifestyle so we decided not to test. Now as a early teen we will let him be tested soon but the fact is that it sounds like you are already doing everything right and that bit of information really dose not change anything. I would keep doing what you are and let him be a normal healthy kid.

Jordans mom

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I would be concerned too. I would definately ask for a referral to a nutritionist and possibly a specialist (if the doctor your daughter is seeing is a regular pediatrician).

 

[NotUrsula]

Has she been tested for familial hypercholesterolemia? That is the biggest danger in a young child whose cholesterol is bizarrely high.

FH is a genetic mutation; it can be tested for by karyotyping the LDL receptor gene; it is done with a blood test. People with a heterozygous mutation tend to develop atherosclerosis at an early age; people with a homozygous form (VERY rare) often die in childhood.

Men who have this mutation often have heart attacks as early as their 30's, women tend to have it happen a bit later, but before age 50. I'd say it is worth testing for if anyone in your family has had an early heart attack.

Here is some info on it from NIH: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000392.htm#Treatment

 

[kdtwiss]

found this for you!

http://www.imakenews.com/vitalchoiceseafood/e_article000389900.cfm


Vascular deterioration or imbalanced cholesterol levels will raise a child's chances of later developing cardiovascular disease (CVD). We lack research showing that statins—drugs that lower cholesterol levels, reduce inflammation, and improve vascular endothelial cell function—are safe for children, so dietary changes and exercise is the usual treatment for signs of incipient CVD in kids.



Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco knew that both fish oil and DHA supplements improve blood vessel function in adults. They wanted to know if DHA could help blood vessel function in children who had high blood fat and cholesterol levels as a hereditary condition. Twenty children between nine and 19 suffering from inherited imbalances in blood fat and cholesterol levels were recruited for a placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical study.



The children followed a heart-healthy diet and were assigned randomly to receive either 1.2 grams of DHA or a placebo daily for six weeks. This phase was followed by a non-treatment phase lasting six weeks, and a six-week “crossover” phase in which the DHA group got the placebo, and vice versa.



Blood vessel function in the children receiving DHA was restored to normal. Specifically, a marker of blood vessel function called endothelium-dependent flow-mediated dilation (FMD) increased significantly after DHA supplementation compared to the heart-healthy diet alone or placebo.



The NIH-funded researchers believe that DHA may improve the synthesis or release of nitric oxide previously observed in a study of the effect of fish oil supplements on human endothelial cells.



As the researchers concluded, “This study demonstrates that DHA supplementation restores endothelial-dependent FMD in hyperlipidemic [i.e., high-cholesterol] children. The endothelium (inner arterial lining) may thus be a therapeutic target for DHA … with the potential for preventing the progression of early coronary heart disease in high-risk children.”