Cholesterol Drugs For Eight Year Olds?

     I’m sure there are cases where young children who are genetically predisposed to having high cholesterol, need the intervention of a statin, a cholesterol lowering drug. My own mother, while not a child has had a big problem with high cholesterol despite both my parents efforts to only buying and preparing low cholesterol and cholesterol lowering foods. The point is that I know sometimes eating right does not solve the problem in all cases.

Having said all that we come to the recent debate about young children and teens who follow such poor eating habits and inactivity that they have cholesterol readings that are so high their doctors are prescribing pills to lower it. It’s to this segment of our population that I speak to now. Young children don’t have jobs so where are they getting the money to buy fast food and junk food? How are they getting there? I assume they are not driving themselves. I doubt very much that they are doing the cooking and grocery shopping in the home as well. So who is responsible for their poor nutrition and eating habits and their inactivity? Could it be their parents?

It seems a real shame that a child has to take the same kind of drugs some elderly people take because they have parents who not only cannot set a good example but that can’t say no to treats being regular meals.

Is the attitude of the American people really “just take another pill”? If so we have a lot of parents that need some parenting themselves, before their children grow up to pay the price with their lives.