Between 3 and 3.4 times more likely to have high cholesterol. Seven times more likely to have elevated triglyceride levels, which can lead to heart and liver disease. 12.6 times more likely to have elevated insulin levels, indicative of diabetes. While their excess weight may not always hamper their lifestyles as children, overweight youngsters are at an increased risk for serious diseases as adults, Faehnle said. A recent report by CDC shows the death rate from cardiac arrest rose surprisingly among Americans ages 15 to 34 in the 1990s, climbing 10 percent in men and 32 percent in women.
Researchers believe a major reason for the increase is the epidemic of obesity.
Across the United States, the number of fatal cardiac arrests in this age group rose from 2,710 in 1989 to 3,000 in 1996, the years covered in the study. Doctors from the CDC released the figures from the first-ever such survey at an American Heart Association conference in San Antonio earlier this month. Dr. George Mensah, chief of the CDC's cardiovascular division, said that doctors have traditionally considered cardiac arrest to be exclusively a problem of older people. Dying suddenly is not just an old folk's problem. It can happen to young people, too.