Active Kids Have Edge In Fighting Off Ldl Cholesterol

Being active in sports may make a kid a winner in the fight against heart disease.

Young people who engage in bursts of intense activity have lower levels of LDL cholesterol, the type that can lead to artery-clogging deposits in adults, a study has found.

Just leading a physically active life doesn’t seem to make a difference on LDL, the study conducted by Dr. Suzanne B. Craig of New England Medical Center in Boston.

“The results indicate there is some threshhold that confers more benefit,” she said.

The report, published in the journal Pediatrics, looked at 49 8- to 11-year-olds. All were girls, but similar findings could be expected in boys, said Dr. William H. Dietz, who also worked on the study.

The researchers checked the girls’ activity levels by measuring their metabolic rates - how much energy the girls burned. The girls also kept records of the time they spent in more intense activities, such as competitive sports, over a year.

Exercises ranged from volleyball and gymnastics at the lower end of the intensity scale to soccer at the high end, Craig said.

While just being physically active did not indicate whether the girls had lower levels of LDL, the intensity of their activities did, the researchers found.

“The more intense exercise the girls participated in, the lower their LDL score,” Dietz said.

Scientists know that, in children, LDL can lead to streaks of fatty material in the arteries, the same material that leads to clogged arteries in adults. While there is no reliable prediction of which children will grow up to have heart disease, researchers think it’s wise to head off the potential for trouble.