Infant fat a heart risk
Even in infancy, overweight children have raised blood pressure and it continues to climb through the early primary school years, Australian research shows.
And at age eight, their total cholesterol levels are higher than those of their peers with a healthy weight, while they have significantly lower levels of the "good" cholesterol, HDL.
A survey of nearly 1500 Perth children adds to emerging concerns that weight gain in early childhood could sow the seeds of poor health in adulthood.
Researchers from the University of Western Australia followed the group of children from when their mothers were pregnant, recording physical measurements and aspects of their lifestyle at ages one, three, six and eight. The results, published in this month's International Journal of Obesity, show that blood pressure readings from the overweight and obese children diverged further from those of the slimmer children as they grew older, putting them at risk of early heart disease.
At age one, the systolic blood pressure of the overweight children was on average 2mmHg (millimetres of mercury) higher than those of normal weight, but by eight, the difference had blown out to an average 6mmHg.
In line with previous research, the study also found that children were more likely to be overweight if their parents were overweight.
Those who regularly ate more breads and cereals were less likely to be overweight.