Your heart health, which is optimal for most of us at birth, can decline substantially with unhealthy childhood behaviors, according to research in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal.
"Our findings indicate that, in general, children start with pretty good blood pressure," said Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, M.D., Sc.M., senior author of the study and professor and chair of preventive medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois. "But if they have a horrible diet, it will drive a worsening body mass index (BMI) and cholesterol levels.
"The better we can equip our children to make healthy choices, the more cardiovascular health will be preserved into adulthood. And those who preserve their heart health into middle age live much longer and are much healthier while they live."
Researchers examined BMI, healthy diet, total cholesterol and blood pressure—four of the seven components of heart health—in children ages 2-11 who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Surveys (NHANES) in 2003-10.
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