Bad Heart Health Starts Shockingly Young — Like, Childhood Young

Healthy habits start at a young age — and unfortunately, unhealthy ones do, too. (Photo: Getty Images)

When most of us are born, we come out of the womb in pretty OK shape. We haven’t yet developed any not-so-great habits that would be a detriment to our health. Instead, bad lifestyle choices — that could then affect our hearts — are generally developed over time, and are influenced by factors like environment, family and financial circumstances, and the like. But according to a new study, that slippery slope into bad heart health can start pretty darn young.

Researchers at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine examined data from a survey of 8,961 kids ages 2 to 11 (part of the National Health and Nutrition Surveys conducted between 2003 and 2010). They looked specifically at four indicators of heart health: body mass index (BMI, a ratio of height to weight that also provides an indicator of overweight and obesity), diet, total cholesterol, and blood pressure.

While all the kids had at least one ideal measure of one of these indicators, not a single child had an ideal measure for all four, the researchers found.

The indicator that the most children had an ideal measure of was blood pressure, but the indicator the most children scored poorly on was diet. The researchers looked specifically at adherence to five components of a healthy diet: high intake of whole grains, produce, and fish, and low intake of sodium and sugar-sweetened drinks.

Related: The Diet That’s Better For Your Heart Than Exercise

"Our findings indicate that, in general, children start with pretty good blood pressure," senior study author Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, MD, ScM, professor and chair of preventive medicine at Northwestern, said in a statement. “But if they have a horrible diet, it will drive a worsening body mass index (BMI) and cholesterol levels.” The new findings are published in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

Less than 1 percent of the kids in the survey had four out of five components of a healthy diet. Looking specifically at each component, fewer than 10 percent of the kids consumed the daily recommended levels of produce and fish (more than four-and-half cups of produce a day, and two or more 3.5-ounce servings a week of fish). And less than 3 percent of boys and 2.4 percent of girls consumed more than three 1-ounce servings of whole grains a day.

Nearly all the kids surveyed — 90 percent — consumed more than the daily recommended levels of sodium by American Heart Association (less than 1,500 milligrams a day), and more than half of the kids consumed more than the AHA-recommended calories for sugar-sweetened drinks a week (no more than 450 calories a week from the beverages).

Related: Why We Might Want To Worry More About Sugar Than Salt For Heart Health

The researchers also found that nearly half of kids — 40 percent — had poor or intermediate total cholesterol levels, and nearly one in three kids — 30 percent — were overweight or obese.

Ensuring optimal heart health in childhood is important for health later on in life. Research shows that kids with high blood pressure, for instance, have an increased risk of also having high blood pressure in adulthood. Ditto with overweight and obesity.

Fortunately, there are things kids can do to turn things around. Eating more healthfully — cutting out sugary drinks, avoiding processed, sodium-heavy foods, eating more plant-based foods, and maybe even nixing the pizza — is a good start. And so is exercise: A 2012 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that kids who spend more than half an hour a day vigorously exercising have a lower risk of heart disease.

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