Should your child’s annual physical include a cholesterol screening?

And, if so, should the results warrant, should he be put on statins?

This is the debate amount physicians.

There is worry that pharmaceutical companies may have too much sway over doctors who may be influenced by money to push cholesterol lowering drugs on children.

However, a growing obesity rate would suggest that high cholesterol and the danger of developing heart disease is a real possibility.

The guidelines are endorsed by the Academy of Pediatrics, which publishes the journal that carried the critical commentary Monday. The panel recommends that all U.S. children should get blood tests for high cholesterol as early as age 9 and that testing should begin much earlier for kids at risk of future heart disease, including those with diabetes or a family history of heart problems. Treatment should generally begin with lifestyle changes including diet and exercise, the guidelines say.

Cholesterol drugs would be recommended for some kids, but probably less than 1 percent of those tested. But the advice says those drugs, including statins, shouldn’t be used at all in children younger than 10 unless they have severe problems.

The guidelines aim to help prevent and treat conditions in children that put them at risk for later heart-related problems. At least 10 percent of U.S. children have unhealthy cholesterol levels and one-third are overweight or obese.

How about preventing obesity and not taking the risk of side effects from unnecessary drugs?

FDA food labeling has a real impact on American’s health.

In a good way!

The research shows just how effective these strategies can be when attempting to change behaviors.

By labeling and banning trans fats a significant, positive change has occurred.

Blood levels of trans fat declined 58 percent from 2000 to 2008. FDA began requiring trans-fat labeling in 2003. During the same period several parts of the country — New York most famously — passed laws limiting trans fats in restaurant food and cooking. The makers of processed food also voluntarily replaced trans fats with less harmful oils.

The decline, unusually big and abrupt, strongly suggests government regulation was effective in altering a risk factor for heart disease for a broad swath of the population.

Dentists may be the un-utilized answer to America’s health care woes.

Trips to the dentist could include some basic primary screening of patients.

It seems that people will forgo trips to their primary care physicians in a tight economy but trips to the dentists remain a high priority to consumers of health care.

Dentists could perform such primary care as blood pressure monitoring and blood screening for high cholesterol and diabetes; catching symptoms early.

Based on those findings, the researchers determined that 26 percent of U.S. children did not see a general health care provider (physician, physician assistant, nurse, nurse practitioner), but more than one-third (7 million) of those children did visit a dentist at least once in 2008.

One-quarter of U.S. adults did not visit a general health care provider, but nearly a fourth (13 million) of those adults visited a dentist at least once in 2008.

Eighty-five percent of the adults and 93 percent of the children had health insurance. This suggests that many of those who did not see a general health care provider may have had access to general care, but chose not to seek it, the researchers said.

Unsightly yellow fatty deposits around the eyes and on eyelids might be a sign of cholesterol deposits in the arteries.

Too much cholesterol has been linked to heart attack.

A study published on the BMJ website showed patients with xanthelasmata were 48% more likely to have a heart attack.

Xanthelasmata, which are mostly made up of cholesterol, could be a sign of other fatty build-ups in the body.

Cardiologists said the findings could be used by doctors to help diagnose at-risk patients.