Would you have your child tested?

Absolutely NOT. DD is fed a nutritious diet, is healthy and active and a normal weight for her height. How many children die of high cholesterol? What is the purpose of testing?

If it shows a genetic predisposition then clearly a diet low in saturated fat should be followed. If it doesn't....well, then a diet low in saturated fat should be followed. There aren't people who can eat as much fat and junk as they like and it's good for them! I would not subject my child to potentially traumatic medical testing to see if she has a predisposition to something which would have to be dealt with far later in life.

If i fed her a lot of rubbish and she was too fat then MAYBE, but even then, surely modifying the diet is far more use than getting a blood test...?

Bx

i agree with you Hoobley.

if your child is diagnosed with high cholesterol as a toddler, what action would be taken?

there are no anti-hyperlipidemic agents on the market that are deemed safe to use in toddlers, so any treatment would be purely lifestyle based anyway, such as modifications to diet and exercise.

shouldn't we already be trying to encourage our child to eat a healthy diet and get enough exercise to reduce the risk of 'lifestyle' related health conditions such as high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and obesity?

just mho.

good on you FJ. Cant wait to hear all about it.

I'm not sure whether I would or wouldn't ....

I would. DH has high cholesterol ever since having chemo (even though we eat a well balanced healthy diet and excercise - it makes absolutely no difference), so is now on medication to control it.

If it will save Caeleb from having to have complications later on in life, I think it's worth it.

Celsie. xoxox

But Celsie how can a diagnostic test prevent problems in the future? If Caeleb's test is fine but then something happened later in life like you're DH's chemo the test results would be meaningless. Some of my family have the genetic predisposition to high cholesterol/type 2 diabetes etc. and diet and exercise are the key, especially exercise. But a healthy diet and regular exercise have MANY MANY benefits and should be the norm for everyone, not only people who tested positive for high cholesterol. If your DH has to have medication despite a good diet and exercise what difference could a test have made?

Bx

Well we had Fun yesterday. We met up at a big reserve near blacktown (the one along Knox road for those of you playing at home). Spent about an hour taking heaps of photos, near the water, at the park, in the gardens. It was great, we all got a bit hot & the kids got sick of it pretty fast but the photographer was really nice & great with the kids, Evan especially.
It was hard to keep "naturally" smiling while not looking at the camera & keeping the kids in one spot around me all a while looking but not looking at the camera lol so I am sure I will look like a twit. I know I was poking my tongue out at one point! Hopefully he is nice & deleted that one!
So keep an eye out itn the paper!

I would definitely have Lucy tested if I thought it could predict her future likelihood to suffer from high cholesterol, because then I could probably do something about it now while we are laying the foundations for her lifetime of eating habits.

Her father has high cholesterol and high blood pressure and his father is a Type 2 diabetic. If I can save her any future complications from a short incident with a needle now, I would do so. Plus, she's had plenty of needles with immunisations and she's over them in about a minute.

Oh, and I already give her a healthy diet and plenty of exercise, but I would like to know if it's something that's likely to come up in her future, so that she can be aware of it as soon as she is able. Plus, if there are any advances made that can be applied while she's still a child, she will be able to benefit.

Hoobley - I know what you're saying. But, we only found out that DH had high cholesterol because of the chemo. It showed up in his 3 monthly blood tests. Had he not had cancer, he probably would have never gone to the doctor and had it checked. He's your typical male, will only go to the doctor when he's dead, IYKWIM?

DH told me, he remembered being tested as a child and it was high (Yet he still didn't think to have it checked again... stupid male). As far as Caeleb goes, I'd rather know if there is going to be a potential problem, so he can get control of it earlier than DH did. Not that I think medication should replace a healthy lifestyle by any means.

I hope that clarifys why I'd have Caeleb tested.

Celsie. xoxox

Here is the artical which is on page 26 in the sunday telegraph. The photo isn't that great of the kids in the paper, they all look like I just told them they are getting needles! LOL But there is a different photo on the online artical if you just google toddler cholesterol test it will come up.

:

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TODDLERS should be tested for high levels of cholesterol to identify whether they are at risk of premature heart disease, researchers say.

A national screening program, which would involve a ***** of the child's finger, could help to cut the increasing number of people with hereditary high cholesterol.

About one in 500 people are affected by familial hypercholesterolaemia, which is passed on in the genes and carries a much greater risk of premature death in young adults.

The study found that screening would have a double benefit because it would identify that at least one of the baby's parents was also at risk.

Dr Edwin Kirk, of the Sydney Children's Hospital at Randwick, said theoretically the strategy made sense, but a pilot study would establish its likely success.

"In one sense, what they are suggesting is quite clever and potentially efficient, but there is the issue of acceptability,'' Dr Kirk, a clinical geneticist, said.

"Are parents going to be happy to have their one, two and three-year-olds screened for a condition that is not going to give them any problems until their 20s or 30s?''

While he would not recommend parents rushing out to get their child's cholesterol checked tomorrow, he said the test could eventually become part of a national program aimed at reducing heart disease.

"It may be that in a few years from now it will become part of the battery of tests that babies and young children have,'' he said.

The British researchers recommended the test be carried out at age 15 months, at the same time as routine vaccinations for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR).

Dr Kirk agreed that this was an ideal target group, a stage of life when rising cholesterol could be easily distinguished.

But he warned that it could create a "minefield of potential problems'', including worrying parents unnecessarily.

The research, published in the British Medical Journal, looked at 13 studies involving almost 2000 people with familial hypercholesterolaemia.

It found that if children were screened from ages one to nine, detection rates for the condition were estimated at 88 per cent.

Follow-up tests on the parents of a child with the condition could identify the affected parent in 96 per cent of cases.

Sydney mother-of-three Fiona Fuller said she would gladly have her children tested because her grandfather carried the high cholesterol gene.

"My grandfather passed away after a triple bypass, which they believe was connected to high cholesterol, so I think early detection is a good thing,'' Ms Fuller, 27, said.

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I would rather give parents cooking lessons in how to prepare nutritious food because a lot of people don't have a clue and then blame school canteens/nasty junk food advertising for making kids obese. My nephew is brought up on a diet of cheese sandwiches and his hot meal is cheese on toast or chips. I'm not kidding. That's off the track, I know, and I'm sure there's some cases where early testing is beneficial but basically I agree with Hoobley - healthy eating should be the norm, not something that we only start doing if we get a bad test result.

Thanks for posting the story Fiona! DId the kids like their photos?

I think some of you are missing the point. I know of more than one person whose family had a history of high cholesterol and high blood pressure, despite very healthy eating habits and an active lifestyle (one guy in his 30s played soccer every week and trained, was as skinny as any guy could be and still had cholesterol levels that were out of this world. If he hadn't been aware of his family problem and been taking medication since his early 20s - despite the fact he had no indications that he would need it - he may have been dead by his 30s). Sometimes it isn't just about diet and lifestyle.

If they are working on tests that can detect this possiblity too, what about the potential to highlight it to parents who don't have the best eating and lifestyle habits at home. It's all very well to say we should educate them better, but most aren't exposed to much in the way of parenting education until they get their kids to preschool and school. By then it's a lot harder to change the eating habits of a child.

I just don't see the downside. Any parent opposed to having their child tested (as with parents who are opposed to having their child immunised) will surely choose to decline and are probably already in a low risk category and well aware of the importance of lifestyle. The rest of us who may be in a higher risk category will appreciate the opportunity. And if Lucy is at risk, who knows what will be developed while she is still a child that may be able to help her.

I agree Jennifer, I think some are missing the point.

High cholesterol is not only from bad diet and exercise. High cholesterol can be from bad diet and an indication that other diseases are in the body, it can also be a genetic disease. If I had any history in my family I would have my girls tested. In fact their cholesterol levels were tested in August when we did a heap of testing for allergies and they were both fine at that time. If cholesterol ran in my family I would probably do a yearly test to try & catch it before it got worse.

I agree Shannon - if it's only a finger pr test that makes it much less stressful. With myself, my brother and my mum all with genetic high chol I think it's definitely worth considering. I've been on chol medication for the past 6 years even though I'm a fairly healthy person (apparently it's my Scottish genes!) I found out after my mum who has basically no saturated or trans fat in her diet and lives a healthy lifestyle had a heart attack at age 58.

Yeah Evan was pretty stoked about seein gthe pics on the net & paper.

Anything that can be beneficial to my kids health would be ok by me. As long as the tests weren't very painful ;)

I'm a very scientifically minded person, however I wouldn't put my child through a test like this.

There are enough tests and injections for children as it stands. Where is the joy in life?

The correct diet, an active lifestyle, great education and love are all a child needs to thrive. Time to take a bit of the science out, me thinks.

I think for me the answer lies in the treatment. There is no drug to control cholesterol licensed for children, so treatment can't commence until adulthood. In addition the only child i have ever read about having been at real risk from his cholesterol level was grossly overweight - it wasn't a problem you couldn't see. Cholesterol testing is done routinely by my doctor every 3 years for everyone, and every year for those who are obese. So there is every chance a problem would be detected in the future when it could be treated appropriately.

Congenital cholesterol problems doesn't become a problem until adulthood, at which point it can be treated. I'd much rather give DD the best shot at not having high cholesterol i can, through her lifestyle, and let her worry about tomorrow's problems, which cannot be avoided in advance, tomorrow.

Bx

Here is a link (now that we are allowed :) ) to the artical. Really I just want to show you all my photo in the paper LOL Cholesterol test for toddlers | The Daily Telegraph