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MONDAY, June 9, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- Kids' affinity for fast food may have health consequences that persist into adulthood: A new study finds high cholesterol levels in early childhood predict cholesterol problems later in life.
Ensuring that children eat a low-cholesterol diet is crucial to controlling high cholesterol, the study suggests.
Columbia University researchers collected data on 448 children enrolled in New York Head Start preschool programs who were also part of the Healthy Start program, a food service intervention and health education effort.
Healthy Start is designed to instill healthy eating habits in children by showing them how to eat foods low in saturated fat and high in nutrition at the preschool level.
Between 1995 and 1997, the researchers measured the children's cholesterol levels when they enrolled in preschool at ages 3 and 4. Five years later, the team re-measured the children's cholesterol and compared their levels at age 8 to their baseline measurement.
They found children who had the highest cholesterol levels in preschool tended to retain high levels up until age 8.
"Even kids who had a normal cholesterol level showed an increased risk five years later," says study author Barbara Strobino, an associate research scientist with the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. She presented her work June 9 at the American Heart Association's Second Asia Pacific Forum in Honolulu.
The discovery is important because high cholesterol is a strong predictor of heart disease.
"If you can figure out the child's LDL, you can pretty much know what they're going to have as an adult," says Dr. Gerald Berenson, a professor of epidemiology in the Tulane University School of Public Health and an expert in childhood cholesterol.
While high cholesterol levels appear to have a genetic cause, the condition can be controlled through diet management and exercise.
For that reason, small steps such as replacing whole milk with skim milk and cutting out fast food can help preschool children slash their cholesterol and prevent future chronic disease.
The data support the need for more programs like the Healthy Start project, which helps children establish good eating habits early in life.
With the current epidemic in childhood obesity, Healthy Start is a critical strategy for improving the lifelong health of children at risk for chronic disease, Berenson says.
"Health promotion like this [program] is something we need all over the country," he says.
More information
Read what the American Academy of Pediatrics has to say about childhood cholesterol. Also, click on the National Healthy Start Association to learn about proper nutrition for children.
