Love Your Protein and Care for Your Heart

If you were to ask what causes heart disease, chances are you will get answers such as “it runs in the family” or “when a person eats too much fat”. Since it’s much harder to find a solution to your genetic make-up, most people try to control the fat in their family’s diet instead. But can you believe that improper protein intake also has a role in increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease? What’s the link between protein and heart disease?

According to the American Heart Association, being overweight or obese greatly increases the risk for health problems like heart disease and stroke. So that means anything that can help prevent obesity helps prevent heart disease and stroke. Simple, right?

Apparently not. When you look at the statistics, paediatric obesity has become a major problem around the world. These obese kids will grow up to become obese adults, creating a population with a high risk for heart disease.

So what’s the deal with protein and heart disease? Recent research shows that feeding kids properly while they’re still young significantly reduces the risk of obesity later in life. Scientists have identified a so called “early protein hypothesis” that says you can lower the risk of obesity in your child by lowering protein intake while they are young. In fact, even kids born to overweight and obese mothers have a better chance of acquiring a healthy weight if they are fed a lower protein alternative early in life.

This means that parents can help prevent future health problems in their children. Isn’t that great? But this new opportunity means that parents need to be extra critical in what they feed their kids. They need to give enough protein for proper growth and development keeping in mind that giving too much, increases the risk of health conditions like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

So there is good news: by giving your kids the right amount of protein for your kids, you can help give them a much healthier future!

NANKID OPTIPRO^® HA^® 3 contains OPTIPRO^®, Nestlé’s Most Advanced Protein. It’s regular milk protein broken into smaller pieces, making it easier to digest. It also contains DHA & ARA, which are found abundantly in the brain, as well as 100 million BIFIDUS BL probiotics from 3 glasses of NANKID OPTIPRO^® HA^® 3 daily. Probiotics are beneficial bacteria that can help support your child’s protection.

References:
1.http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/WeightManagement/Obesity/Obesity-Information_UCM_307908_Article.jsp accessed May 13, 2015
2. International Obesity Taskforce. The global epidemic. http://www.iaso.org/iotf/obesity/obesitytheglobalepidemic/ accessed May 13, 2015
3. Koletzko B, et al. Can infant feeding choices modulate later obesity risk? Am J Clin Nutr 2009;89:1502S-8S.
4. Martin FP, et al. Impact of breast-feeding and high- and low-protein formula on the metabolism and growth of infants from overweight and obese mothers. Pediatr Res 2013 Dec 27. doi: 10.1038/pr.2013.250