Food ads may Television commercials enticing kids to eat larger fast-food portions could contribute to childhood obesity and future risk for heart disease, it was reported in Honolulu at the American Heart Association's first Asia-Pacific Scientific Forum.
raise kids’ health risks
The findings are among studies being
Other heart risks explored
discussed at a local heart health forumBy Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.comAbout 900 doctors, clinicians, nurses, epidemiologists and other health professionals are discussing the latest cardiovascular research and impacts of the "Genomic Revolution" at the Hawai'i Convention Center this week.
"The genome holds by far the greatest promise" to help prevent and treat disease, said Dr. Rodman Stark, University of California emeritus professor of medicine and retired executive vice president of science and medicine for the American Heart Association.
It is all about finding genes that can help or hurt a person, then finding a way to increase or block the gene's expression, depending if it is good or bad, he said.
"Of all the places roaring ahead now, certainly the Pacific Rim is an important one," he said, noting exciting research in Asian countries.
The meetings, which began Tuesday and end tomorrow, include the 42nd Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease, Epidemiology and Prevention.
"Obesity, a Worldwide Epidemic Related to Heart Disease and Stroke," is a key topic.
More than 20 percent of Hawaii's children -- double the national rate -- were found overweight in a five-year study reported last year.
Marlene M. Most, associate professor at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., said TV commercials in the 1970s emphasized high-sugar foods. Now the focus is on larger portions of fatty foods, she said. This is disturbing because most Americans already eat portions "way beyond what is heart healthy," she said.
Her study cannot confirm a link between the advertised fast foods and children's health, but suggests if young people eat many of the advertised products and have little physical activity, this could contribute to obesity and heart disease, she said.
Elaine D. Eaker of Eaker Epidemiology Enterprises, Chili, Wis., presented a study showing househusbands and others with nontraditional work or social roles suffer more coronary heart disease and death from all causes.
The data were compiled from the Framingham Offspring Study, including descendants of participants in the federal government's Framingham Heart Study, which began in 1948.
Eaker said it is the best kind of study for social-psychological research, but the question is to what extent society has changed.
The study found men who were househusbands most of their adult years had an 82 percent higher 10-year death rate compared with those who worked outside the home.
In the 1980s, househusbands may have been under stress with increased risk for heart disease and death because their roles were not the norm in society, she said.
The same was true for women in jobs with authority and high demands, she said.
But perhaps that has changed, she said, suggesting maybe women who stay home and do not have outside jobs in today's society may be under stress.
The study also found that men who were widowed, divorced or separated had almost twice the risk of death compared with married men.
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Studies at heart
health forum examine
various risk factorsOther presentations at the American Heart Association's first Asia-Pacific Scientific Forum this week in Honolulu included:
>> Dr. Norman Ratliff, cardiology fellow at the University of Minnesota/Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, said psychosocial stress is a more common cause for sudden cardiac arrest for women than physical exertion. The opposite is true for men.
"We as physicians need to pay closer attention to the emotional status of patients with heart disease because stressful life events have the potential to trigger adverse events," he said.
>> Janice Williams, epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reported a study showing anger and exhaustion may cause future heart attacks or sudden death. She said the findings suggest anger and exhaustion not only are short-term predictors of heart attack, but also may predict long-term heart attack risk.
>> Dr. Maurizio Ferratini, head of the cardiovascular rehabilitation unit of Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi in Milan, Italy, said firstborns may be more likely to develop coronary disease, according to a study of more than 600 patients. The researchers speculated that firstborns may have a more competitive, aggressive type-A personality, more prone to coronary problems. It is important to investigate this so it can be considered among a patient's risks for heart attack if it is a factor, Ferratini said.