Friday, November 15, 2024

Low or high BMI in childhood can affect lung function in future, finds study

Date:

An abnormal body mass index (BMI) in children — whether high or low — can be associated with impaired lung function, according to research on Monday.

About 10 per cent people suffer from poor lung function in childhood. They also cannot achieve maximal lung capacity in adulthood, increasing the risk of serious health problems such as cardiovascular disease, lung disease and diabetes.

However, the study led by researchers from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden showed that if their BMI is normalised before they reach adulthood, the impairment can be offset.

The team followed 3,200 children from birth to the age of 24. BMI — the most common body measurement — which takes account of weight, but not muscle and fat composition was measured about 4 times.

The results published in The European Respiratory Journal showed that abnormal weight and height were the major risk factors associated with impaired lung function.

Children with a persistently high BMI or an accelerated increasing BMI had impaired lung function as adults. It was primarily the result of restricted airflow in the lungs, a condition known as obstruction.

However, in children “with an initially high BMI but a normalised BMI before puberty, lung function was not impaired in adulthood”, said principal investigator Erik Melen, professor of paediatrics at Karolinska Institutet.

“This highlights how important it is to optimise children’s growth both early in life and during their early school years and adolescence.”

A stable low BMI could also be linked to reduced lung function caused by inadequate lung growth. In these cases, BMI was not normalised throughout the study.

The researchers also stressed the need to focus on introducing nutritional measures, rather than focusing only on being overweight.

Also Read: Midday Explains | Weight-loss drugs, diet fads, viral trends: Are they worth it for weight management? Experts answer

 

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever



Source link

Share post:

Popular

More like this
Related

NASA rockets seed artificial clouds below glowing auroras in Norway (photo)

It's not every day you get to watch...

A New Way to Detect Daisy Worlds

The Daisy World model describes a hypothetical planet...

Asteroid pieces brought to Earth help reveal how our solar system’s planets and moons grew

Samples collected from the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu have...

Boeing starts issuing layoff notices

Boeing said it is issuing layoff...