Dr. Macklin Talks About Kids and Cholesterol

To put it very simply, elevated levels of bad or "LDL" cholesterol leads to narrowed arteries. Narrowed arteries or "atherosclerosis" leads to heart disease, kidney disease, blindness and strokes. The longer someone has elevated LDL cholesterol, the higher the risk of one or more of the bad events above happening.

That's really the tragedy of obesity and elevated LDL cholesterol in kids. There exists on average a 30 year window between the onset of high LDL cholesterol and the possiblity of a heart attack. Before kids started developing high cholesterol levels over the last decade, heart attacks commonly occurred only in later years.

We all know the all too common story of the man who develops cholesterol issues in his mid 30's. If this guy has the bad luck of being susceptible to developing heart disease and/or has other risk factors like smoking, diabetes or high blood pressure, he has his first heart attack around the age of 65.

When I first met Alex (who we met on last night's episode), he had high LDL levels starting at age twelve. Follow the 30 year rule forward and Alex is at risk of dropping dead at forty two! To put that into perspective that is the life expectancy of a healthy Neanderthal.

High LDL cholesterol levels narrow arteries by plugging them up like the inside of the artery pictured here. Cholesterol plugs up holes that form on the inside of arteries. Things that create holes in the artery wall include diabetes, smoking, high blood pressure, abdominal obesity and even a single high fat meal. LDL Cholesterol is the "grout" that plugs the holes over and over again until the inside artery wall looks like this image and the artery narrows and closes causing blood to no longer flow resulting heart attacks and strokes.

With the exception of those kids with a rare genetic trait, no children should have high LDL levels. Even minimal weight loss along with exercise can dramatically lower LDL cholesterol levels in kids. It's a scary world we live in when I now screen for high cholesterol levels in obese kids starting anywhere above the age of five.

This post is a repeat, but look forward to more original content to come in the future.