Mother's waist size predicts child's heart disease risk

Mother's waist size is found to be a reliable predictor of whether or not a child will develop metabolic syndrome in the future.Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of disorders that raise the likelihood of heart disease and diabetes. A patient has metabolic syndrome when three or more of the five following conditions are present: abdominal obesity, high triglyceride levels, low levels high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or the "good" cholesterol, high blood pressure and high blood glucose. Having metabolic syndrome sharply increases a person's risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.To understand how the metabolic syndrome in a mother and child was associated, Argentinean researchers looked at 620 children, with an average age of nine years, and their mothers, with an average age of 38 years. About two-thirds of the children had a healthy weight, while the rest were either overweight or obese. Just over half of the mothers had a healthy weight. Roughly 70 per cent of the children had at least one component of metabolic syndrome, while nearly 11 per cent had developed the syndrome, and 11 per cent of the mothers also had it. Thirty-six per cent of the mothers had abdominal obesity. When different metabolic syndrome components were analysed, it was found that a mother's waist circumference had the strongest relationship with her child's metabolic syndrome risk. In fact, maternal waist circumference was the strongest predictor of metabolic syndrome, stronger than a maternal diagnosis of MS.The findings indicate that mothers' waist circumference is the most important predictor of children's metabolic syndrome and should always be checked. Also, programmes should be developed to prevent childhood metabolic syndrome and consider at-risk children for intensive intervention.