Endangered youth

Toronto Globe and Mail Letter to Editor

 By DENNIS RAPHAEL


 Friday, February 8, 2002



? Print Edition, Page A16

 Toronto -- The Globe headline Preteens Face Early Heart Disease (Feb. 6) is
 correct, but the reasons provided in the story are not. Despite continuing
 assertions from the Heart and Stroke Foundation about the importance of
 exercise, good diet and avoiding secondhand smoke for preventing eventual
 cardiovascular disease among youngsters, the scientific evidence in support of
 these assertions is, at best, equivocal.

 In contrast, numerous long-term studies from around the Western world
 document the importance of poor living conditions as a clear and unambiguous
 cause of heart disease. If preteens in Canada are at risk for heart disease, it
is
 because of the exploding number of poor, hungry and poorly housed children
 and families. Why do we continue to ignore these much more potent factors in
 heart disease?

 associate professor of health policy and management, York University