Adolescents who are overweight and diabetic have early signs of heart disease compared to physically-active teenage boys and girls, research by a DCU scientist has found.
Dr Niall Moyna, senior lecturer in exercise physiology at the Centre for Sports Science and Health, DCU, told a Science Week Ireland lecture at the university last night that "children will experience diabetic-related conditions such as blindness, heart attacks and strokes much earlier in life".
He said: "In the US there has been a tenfold increase in type 2 diabetes between 1982 and 1994 in adolescents. There is also anecdotal evidence that the incidence of type 2 diabetes is on the rise in Irish children."
Dr Moyna said the perception that heart disease begins after 40 years is a myth.
Dr Moyna, who worked in cardiology for nine years, outlined other common myths, such as the belief that heart disease is the number one killer of men, and cancer the primary killer of women.
This is untrue: it is the number one killer of both men and women, said Dr Moyna. "For every woman in the US who will die from breast cancer, approximately 11 will die from heart disease," he said.
He also said it was never too late to exercise, as "the health benefits occur regardless of past history of bad habits". Furthermore, "the lower an individual's fitness level, the greater will be the health benefit associated with a given increase in physical activity".
Those who played competitive sport when they were younger and then became sedentary "have the same risk of heart disease later in life as individuals who remain sedentary. Only contemporary participation in physical activity confers health benefits," he said.
Another myth says gene mutations are responsible for the alarming increase in heart disease, says Dr Moyna. "Only a small proportion of individuals with heart disease develop the disease primarily as a result of a single gene defect. We are genetically programmed to expect physical activity," he said.
The perception that heart disease cannot be prevented is untrue, he says, as is the belief "you have to undertake vigorous continuous exercise and be physically fit in order to reduce your risk of heart disease".
He said current guidelines recommend adults should each day accumulate 30 minutes of "moderate intensity" activities.