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Wrist Size in Kids May Indicate Future Heart Disease Risk
Filed under: In The News, Diet & Fitness, Health
Its all in the wrists! Credit: Getty Images
Researchers have found the fatter the wrist size, the higher the risk for heart disease.
Teeny, tiny wrists signal good heath, according to Italian researchers who have discovered large wrist sizes in teens are associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Larger wrists signal high levels of insulin, the hormone that gets sugar and glucose into cells, which leads to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance, in turn, is known to put people at risk for heart disease, according to MyHealthNewsDaily.
"We found a very easy-to-detect, new method to measure insulin resistance in children," researcher Dr. Raffaella Buzzetti, professor in the department of clinical sciences at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, tells the site.
The findings suggest that doctors can measure wrist size in children to predict a future risk for heart disease, Buzzetti adds. The results of the study will be published later this month in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association.
The researchers studied 477 children and teens with an average age of 10. They measured their wrists and body mass index, or BMI.
The larger the wrist size, the higher the children's insulin levels. Turns out, wrist circumference measurements were a more accurate indicator of insulin resistance than BMI, according to MyHealthNewsDaily.
The reason wrist size is an indicator, researchers say, is that insulin regulates bone growth, and the higher the insulin, the larger the bones -- wrist bones included.
"One of the major priorities of clinical practice today is the identification of young people at increased risk for insulin resistance," Buzzetti tells the site. "This is a very, very strong link. Wrist circumference mirrors insulin resistance levels."
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
4-12-2011 @ 2:09PM
Michelle said...So does this mean everyone with bigger or wider bones is at a higher risk of heart disease? My daughter is thin, barely has an ounce of fat on her, but she inherited, from my side, wider wrist bones. Most of the people on my mom's side have this trait, and none of them had/have heart disease! We often joke about how my daughter can wear a larger watch than her older sister. It's just a different bone structure, just as it is for someone to have short legs vs. long legs, etc. If the measurement of her wrist was in the "risk for diabetes" danger zone, I would have to disagree that this is a problem for her.
Reply
4-12-2011 @ 2:53PM
notallhere said...I completely agree. My grandpa was very small in stature (including his wrists). He had heart disease for as long as I can remember. Furthermore, my aunt (his daughter) has it too. So does her 12-year-old son. I think this is a ridiculous study, just like many "studies".
4-12-2011 @ 3:17PM
S.S. said...Hi....It almost sounds like they meant "disproportionally larger", as the wrist and ankle have the most other bones connected to them and are like a conduit for the effects of the excess insulin.
There actually is another physical anomaly, in which the body, at a young age, won't snythesize calcium, ultra violet light and vitamin D efficiently....and one very common symtom is an excessively wide pelvic bone.....this occurs most often in the poor, and in cultures with diets like our deep south, and the stereotypical black culture diet. Oddly enough, the oshkinaze 1/2 of the Jewish people (white skinned from Europe, not darker like the sephardic 1/2 in Israel, have a high percentage of the hip syndrome.....if they have enough generations having a strict and narrow selection of religiously controled foods.
4-12-2011 @ 3:56PM
Maureen said...Hmmm....This Old Bag is sitting here on my size 6 arse with my itty bitty wrists and size 4 ring with Type II diabetes and cardiomyopathy. I also take these "wittle" wrists and turn open the lids of my heart pills, water pills and cholesterol lowering pills.
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4-12-2011 @ 4:05PM
Basser said...Where are the people sitting in this world that comes up with this bullshit?
What next? Ankle size, chest size, ear size.
And just to think that people are getting paid for this eroneous bullshit,,, but 'they' did include the word 'may'.... just to leave you guessing.
Daaaaaaham...
Reply
4-12-2011 @ 8:44PM
docsince98 said...The person who authored this article probably shouldn't have written it. She could have (at least) described it in simpler terms. This short article is confusing to those who are "scientifically challenged". Throughout history, there have been many "scientific findings" (in all areas of Science such as Medicine, Chemistry, Physics, Biology etc.) considered silly and useless by citizens, governments and churches. Many turned out to be quite significant and important.
I haven't read their paper or analyzed their data. But, it appears that these researchers are simply reporting a statistically significant correlation between wrist size and a high level of insulin. And statistically, their findings indicate that wrist size is a more accurate predictor of high insulin levels than a BMI.
And, like everything in Science, these results will be repeated by other scientists to confirm the earlier findings. If this study turns out to be valid, it will provide Physicians with another small piece of information that will be combined with many other pieces of information. All well-schooled Physicians have learned to analyze all of the info. Many patients will not show all signs and symptoms of a particular disease. All kids with large wrists won't develop heart disease. Some kids with small wrist will develop heart disease.
I remember when people laughed about wasted $$ when scientists revealed a correlation between periodontal (gum) disease and heart disease. Obviously, we now know that periodontal disease is a much higher risk factor for heart disease than those earlier studies indicated.
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