Cholesterol Drugs for 8-Year-Olds? Yikes!

Note from Connie: You’ve got to be kidding. Kids as young as 8 are now on the cholesterol drugs bandwagon? Read Jennifer’s update on this scary subject.

The American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends that children as young as eight who have high cholesterol should be treated with statins, which are commonly prescribed for adults, according to a report released in the journal Pediatrics.

Powerful cholesterol medications for 8-year-olds? Really? This sounds like a very questionable idea, to say the least.

And I’m not the only one who feels that way. In Tara Parker-Pope’s article in The New York Times about the shock waves the AAP’s new guidelines have sent through the medical community, Dr. Lawrence Rosen of Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, said "To be frank, I’m embarrassed for the A.A.P. today."

Why is this idea so controversial? Even a member of the AAP who agrees with the new guidelines concedes that there’s very little data on giving young children cholesterol-lowering drugs, according to another story by Parker-Pope on this news.

Yes, we’re in a crisis with childhood obesity at breathtakingly high levels. Yes, I can understand the AAP’s mindset that we may need to do more to treat kids with ailments largely due to the obesity epidemic, like high cholesterol. But statins can have some pretty serious side effects, and the thought of giving kids these strong drugs before they’ve even hit puberty makes me nervous.

But the bigger question is this: Shouldn’t we as a society work harder to help these youngsters eat well and exercise regularly before resorting to something as drastic as giving them drugs?

For example, Connie’s book SUGAR SHOCK discusses the links between too much sugar and heart disease, and we all know too many kids eat way too much sugar. Wouldn’t reducing sugar intake be a better place to start?

Thanks to the tireless New York Times reporter Tara Parker-Pope for her thorough coverage of this startling announcement from the AAP.

Jennifer Moore for SUGAR SHOCK! Blog