London – We are ruining our hearts from early childhood due to our unhealthy diets, warns a study.
Researchers found most people start life with robust heart health but can lose it quickly by falling into bad eating habits.
Few children below 12 had an ideal diet and 30 percent were overweight or obese, they said, adding that the better equipped children are to make healthy choices the healthier their hearts will be in adulthood.
Senior author Dr Donald Lloyd-Jones, of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, said: ‘Children start with pretty good blood pressure. But if they have a horrible diet, it will drive a worsening body mass index (BMI) and cholesterol levels.
‘We are losing an awful lot of our intrinsic cardiovascular health very early in life.’
Researchers examined BMI, healthy diet, total cholesterol and blood pressure in 8,961 children aged two to 11.
The study, published in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, found all had at least one ideal measure but none had all four, with diet the worst-scoring area.
Daily Mail