Monitoring the fat and cholesterol intake of children and adolescents

Nurse practitioners and other health care providers play vital roles in the health education of their clients. A health professional should be able to understand the interplay of diet, education, and exercise in a healthy existence. This article reviews the recommendations offered by the National Cholesterol Education Program (1991) on testing and managing cholesterol levels in children and adolescents. The program recommends a strategy combining two complementary approaches: a population approach and an individual approach. By evaluating these approaches, the timing and rationale for lowering fat and cholesterol are discussed and recommendations are made to health care providers about identifying children at risk. Health care providers should work to promote a physically conscious generation that is well-versed in health maintenance, to identify "high-risk" individuals, and to update their own knowledge of national recommendations for managing fat and cholesterol levels in their clients' diets.