Obese children have a higher risk of developing asthma
Posted on sep 2011
In the last years, obesity has become one of the most important health issues of the world, especially among children. Along with the development of technology and lifestyle changes, people tend to adopt a more sedentary lifestyle and overeating habits.
Unfortunately, these changes can be mostly seen on children. In the US, in 2010, no state had a lower percentage of obese children than 25%.
Some of the consequences of this disease are associated with cardiovascular risks and other chronic diseases. Recently, one more consequence has been added to the list: asthma.
This topic has been recently a subject of debate at the EAACI Pediatric Allergy and Asthma meeting.
It is not yet clear for researchers, whether asthma and obesity have common causes or if the latter determines the first one.
A clear connection has been established between asthma and the nutritional status of the sick person. A diet rich in vegetables and fresh food, has shown a high protection against heart diseases and is often associated as a protection against asthma as well.
Another common point between asthma and obesity besides the nutritional diet, is the recommendation for playing sports.
Children with asthma are recommended to play sports in order to ensure a better respiratory capacity, unlike children that don't play sports and a lazier respiratory capacity. For obese children, a sport is recommended in order to help them lose weight through burning calories.
As it can be easily seen, a connection between asthma and obesity surely exists. Studies have also shown that overweight children have double the frequency of asthma than normal children.
However, it remains for researchers to figure out whether there are just common point leading to the two diseases to connect or whether there is actually obesity leading to asthma in some cases.
Nevertheless, the number of overweight children continues to grow and so does the list with the consequences that this disease has over our bodies. It is up to the researchers to come up with ways in which our body can fight this unusual habits of overeating and it is also up to us to understand the consequences and take care of ourselves.
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