Doctor's tips to make sure kids grow up with healthy heart
MANILA, Philippines — Oftentimes, when you talk about cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, stroke, high cholesterol, triglycerides and heart attack, you never talk about kids because these illnesses are thought to be “reserved” for older people.
You usually talk about a senior member of the family and discuss his (or her) case as an example, or express fear that when you grow older, you might contract any of these diseases, especially if one of them runs in the family. So they usually do not concern kids — until they become adults themselves.
But, in a country like the Philippines, where cardiovascular diseases account for 72% of the deaths in the country in 2021 (according to the Philippine Statistics Office), kids are not exempted. You have probably seen former child actor BJ ‘Tolits’ Forbes on national TV talking about his three-year-old daughter Janela having a stroke when she was age one. With medical intervention, her condition is improving, Forbes says. So it is important that efforts to keep your heart—and your children’s—healthy early in life. They should begin as early as during your childhood years.
“Though heart disease is hereditary, meaning you are more likely to have it if your close blood relatives do, it can also develop as a consequence of one’s environment,” said Dr. Ceres Paulino Canto from the Cardiology Department of Makati Medical Center (MakatiMed).
She added: “Kids who are exposed to family members who smoke and drink, eat mostly processed food, and have sedentary lifestyles are likely to follow in their footsteps. So, while cardiovascular diseases like heart attack and stroke are associated with the older generation, their causes can be traced to childhood.”
Dr. Canto suggested three lifestyle habits that you can take up to keep your heart as well as your kids; hearts healthy:
Eat nutritious food
Start your kids on healthy and nutritious food as soon as they are born. For a start, mommy should breast-feed the newborn baby so he (or she) benefits from the natural protein, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals found in breast milk. When they are ready for solids, make sure you incorporate fruits and vegetables as well as fish and other lean protein sources, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products into their diet so they get used to eating them early in life. Do not totally ban fast-food fares because the more you deprive them of it, the more they end up craving for it. Treat them to such bites occasionally, but practice portion control and load them more with healthy, natural food on a regular basis. Go easy on processed food.
Lead an active lifestyle
This is definitely the age of Internet and computers, and kids engage more in passive play—seated on the couch and playing computer games while munching on junk food—instead of going out biking, checking out the slides and see-saws and swings at the playground, or playing street games with friends the way children of olden days did. To encourage the little ones to get active, lead an active lifestyle for them to emulate, and let them take part in your physically active world. Go biking with the kids. Visit the gym together. Play one-on-one basketball with them. Perhaps dancing will catch their fancy? Or tennis?
“Physical activity doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. Letting loose at the playground, dancing, or engaging in sports for 30 minutes to an hour a day can deliver oxygen and nutrients that allow the cardiovascular system to work more efficiently. Make them develop a lifelong love of physical fitness and activity today,” Dr. Canto pointed out.
Give up bad habits
Be a good example. If you smoke, drink, stay up late, gorge on junk food and your kids see you, there is a strong possibility your kids will do the same. Kids love to mirror what their parents do, so decide to lead a healthy lifestyle and do it while they are young, so they grow up picking up the right habits from you. Be a good role model.
The earlier you start your kids on a healthy lifestyle, the better for them. This way, not only will their childhood and young adulthood be healthy years for them to enjoy and live life to the fullest. They will also bring these healthy habits well into their older years and reap their full benefits.
“Kids are more likely to stick to a heart-healthy lifestyle if they grow up exposed to it, especially during their most formative years. Once these good-for-the-heart habits are instilled in them, they would be harder to break, even when they reach adulthood,” Dr. Canto emphasized.
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