Toddlers with asthma are more likely to be obese ‘because their condition stops them from exercising’ and steroids in inhalers boost appetite
- Asthma symptoms like wheezing may prevent children from exercising
- Steroids, which prevent asthma attacks, have been linked to obesity
- Obesity affects 17% of children in the US and one in 10 in reception in the UK
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Toddlers with asthma are more likely to become obese, research suggests.
Children aged three-to-four who suffer from the lung condition are 66 per cent more likely to be dangerously overweight at eight years old, a study found.
Asthma symptoms, such as wheezing and breathlessness, may prevent youngsters from exercising, resulting in obesity, according to the researchers.
High doses of steroids, which prevent asthma attacks by opening up a sufferer’s airways, have also been linked to a person carrying severe amounts of weight. They are thought to increase appetite.
‘Asthma may contribute to the obesity epidemic,’ according to study author Dr Frank Gilliland, from the University of Southern California.
Toddlers with asthma are more likely to become obese, research suggests (stock)
Senior author Dr Lida Chatzi added: ‘We care about this issue because asthma affects approximately 6.5 million children – about one in 10 – in the United States.’
In the largest study of its kind, the researchers analysed 21,130 children born between 1990 and 2008.
The children were from Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden or the UK.
They were not obese at the start of the study. The participants with asthma were diagnosed at three or four years old.
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All of the children were followed until they were eight.
Results, published in the European Respiratory Journal, showed children with asthma were 66 per cent more likely to become obese than their counterparts without the condition.
Youngsters who regularly suffer from asthma symptoms, such as coughing and a tight chest, were twice as likely to carry dangerous amounts of weight.
WHAT IS ASTHMA?
Asthma is a common but incurable condition which affects the small tubes inside the lungs.
It can cause them to become inflamed, or swollen, which restricts the airways and makes it harder to breathe.
The condition affects people of all ages and often starts in childhood. Symptoms may improve or even go away as children grow older, but can return in adulthood.
Symptoms include wheezing, breathlessness, a tight chest and coughing, and these may get worse during an asthma attack.
Treatment usually involves medication which is inhaled to calm down the lungs.
Triggers for the condition include allergies, dust, air pollution, exercise and infections such as cold or flu.
If you think you or your child has asthma you should visit a doctor, because it can develop into more serious complications like fatigue or lung infections.
Source: NHS
And children who use medication, such as corticosteroids, to control their condition were found to be most at risk.
Until now, obesity was thought of as a precursor to asthma, not the other way round.
‘It’s a chronic childhood disorder and if it increases the risk of obesity, we can advise parents and physicians on how to treat it and intervene to help young children grow up to enjoy healthy, adult lives,’ Dr Chatzi said.
Since asthma and obesity both typically start early in a person’s life, the link between the two disorders may occur during a critical window in a child’s development, according to the researchers.
Both conditions have previously been associated with a person’s mother being obese, as well as her diet during pregnancy.
In the US, obesity affects more than 35 percent of adults and 17 percent of children.
Around 26 percent of adults in the UK are obese, according to statistics. Obesity even affects one in 10 children in reception and one in five in year six.
There is a proven link between weight gain and oral steroids, says
Dr Christine Gerbstadt, registered dietitian and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association claims ‘steroids simply increase your appetite’, EverydayHealth reports.
It comes after research released earlier this year found asthma medication reduces a person’s risk of Parkinson’s disease by up to one-third.
People who take corticosteroids, which are commonly prescribed for asthma, as well as psoriasis and ulcerative colitis, are 20 percent less at risk of suffering tremors, according to the study by the University of Washington.
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