Teenagers as young as 15 and 16 are showing signs of heart disease.
Shocking new research published today shows that blood vessels in boys with low levels of fitness are beginning to thicken, especially if they're overweight or have high cholesterol.
The research was carried out among transition year students as part of the Schools Fitness Challenge.
Prof Niall Moyna of the Centre for Preventive Medicine in Dublin City University said, “The research clearly shows the danger of poor levels of aerobic fitness with 15 year olds already showing signs of early onset heart disease. A high level of fitness reduces the risk for major chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, depression, and diabetes.
Interventions such as the Schools’ Fitness Challenge with Aviva Health are very important in addressing these issues and we have already seen a positive impact as a result of the initiative with 2014 results showing improved fitness across all participating school by almost 20% on average in only six weeks.”
Professor Moyna spoke to Newstalk Breakfast this morning about the findings of the report:
