KAGAN: Health officials have been warning about the growing danger of obesity among American children. And a new study points to another warning sign, rising blood pressure among youngsters. Christy Feig has our daily dose health news.</s>CHRISTY FEIG, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: When Yun Lee (ph) came to America from Korea at age nine he wasn't overweight, but becoming a typical American teenager added about 30 pounds too many.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I ate a lot of fast food or pizza or a lot of cheese, a lot of cokes. I guess that became the source of the obesity.</s>FEIG: Now at 19, he's battling high blood pressure, a hidden danger researchers found in their study of overweight kids reported in the "Journal of the American Medical Association."</s>DR. PAUL MUNTNER, TULANE UNIVERSITY: We divided up our sample into ages 8 through 12 and 13 through 17, and we saw remarkably consistent results from blood pressure increased among children of all ages.</s>FEIG: In children, even a blood pressure increase of just a few points is significant. Because each one point increase in childhood raises the risk of high blood pressure as an adult by ten percent.</s>MUNTNER: If you have high blood pressure in a childhood, there is a much higher likelihood that you will sustain it into adulthood and if you do then you are into the group of people who are at risk for having kidney disease or stroke, heart disease.</s>FEIG: High blood pressure is called the silent killer because it doesn't often have many symptoms. The doctor say this should be a red flag to get kids moving more and eating less. Christy Feig, CNN, Washington.</s>KAGAN: As always, your daily dose of health news is just a click away. The latest medical news, a health library, and much more can be yours at CNN.com/health. In one corner, America's most firebrand filmmaker. In the other, Mickey Mouse? Michael Moore goes head to head with Michael Eisner over a controversial new movie. We are live with that story just ahead.
Health Officials Warning About Growing Danger of Obesity Among American Children