The Oxford Health Alliance | www.oxha.org

A report published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows a strong link between children’s weight and their risk of developing coronary heart disease in adulthood. Researchers examined the health records of more than 270,000 Danish schoolchildren born between 1930 and 1976 and found that as the children (age 7 to 13) gained even moderate amounts of weight, their risk of developing heart disease later in life increased.

Measuring children’s BMI, researchers found the association between heavier children and adult heart disease risk occurred for both girls and boys, but stronger in boys. The average 13-year-old boy (5”1’ and 97 lbs) had an 11.7% risk of a cardiovascular event before the age of 60. For boys the same age who weighed 121 lbs, their risk of having heart problems was 15.5%.

In the US, one third of children and adolescents are considered to be either overweight or obese. Many studies have suggested a correlation between childhood obesity and adult heart disease, but the Danish study is the largest and most comprehensive analysis. Of the 276,835 people studies, 10,235 men and 4,318 women either received a diagnosis of coronary heart disease as adults or died of it.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, 6 December 2007