Eye Health is now tied to Childhood Obesity
We pediatricians are reading more and more scientific articles about the long-term disease consequences of childhood obesity, especially diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease. A study published in the December 2014 issue of The Journal of Pediatrics revealed that children who carry around excess body fat are more likely to develop vision problems. New technology has enabled researchers to study the effects of excess body fat on the tiny blood vessels throughout the body, especially the eye.
Doctors have long preached that an organ is only as healthy as the blood vessels supplying it. New studies have shown that the higher a child’s excess body fat, the more narrow are the tiny blood vessels in the retina of the eye. Eye researchers fear that decreasing blood supply to the eyes as a consequence of obesity could eventually lead to long-term vision problems. The underlying cause of how excess body fat narrows tiny blood vessels has not been proven, though the most likely cause, as I proposed in our newest book, The Inflammation Solution, is the build-up of pro-inflammatory chemicals (“sticky stuff”) on the walls of the blood vessels. So, to give your children the best visual outlook on life, keep them lean.