- A Swedish study suggests children with obesity remain at higher risk of future illness even when blood tests and blood pressure look normal.
- Those classed as metabolically healthy still had a much greater risk of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and abnormal blood lipids by early adulthood.
- The study also found that treatment in childhood reduced risk, which undercuts the idea that these children can simply be left alone.
A new study followed more than 7,200 children in Sweden who started obesity treatment between the ages of 7 and 17.
Researchers tracked them through to age 30.
They compared children with metabolically healthy obesity, children with obesity and abnormal cardiometabolic markers and peers from the general population.
The results were clear.
Even children whose blood pressure and blood tests looked normal still had a much higher risk of later disease than children without obesity.
By age 30, 9% of the metabolically healthy obesity group had developed type 2 diabetes.
That compared with 17% in the metabolically unhealthy group and just 0.5% in the general population.
High blood pressure and abnormal blood lipids followed a similar pattern.
In other words, normal test results in childhood did not mean low risk.
That matters because there has been debate about whether children with obesity but no obvious metabolic complications really need treatment.
- Parent stress may be quietly driving childhood obesity
- Obesity linked to 1 in 10 infection deaths worldwide
- Microbes living in our mouths could hold the key to obesity prevention
This study suggests they do.
All children in the study received support for healthier lifestyle habits.
Those who responded well to treatment had a lower risk of future illness, regardless of whether they were classed as metabolically healthy or unhealthy at the start.
That is the key point.
If a child has obesity, normal blood results should not be used as an excuse to do nothing.
The risk is still there, and early treatment appears to make a difference.
