It has long been known that children who are overweight or obese are a group at increased risk of heart attack later in life. But a high BMI during childhood does not have to be decisive, according to a study from the University of Gothenburg.
Provided that you reach a normal weight during your teenage years, that is, before the age of 18–20, it seems that the risk of coronary artery disease is normalized, says Rebecka Bramsved.
The study, published in the journal Jama Pediatrics, is based on data on just over 103,000 people born between 1945 and 1968.
Increased risk
People who were overweight, but whose weight had normalized before adulthood, were not at a higher risk of suffering a heart attack than those who had been of normal weight during their childhood.
However, there was an increased risk among those who were overweight at age 20 – especially if the obesity had first developed during puberty.
According to Rebecka Bramsved, who is a specialist at a children's health center, the results show the importance of detecting and treating overweight and obesity early.
“High time”
At the same time, she believes that there is increased awareness among many parents today.
"I think there has been a positive development in just a few years in how aware parents are that we live in an obesogenic environment, as we call it. That is, an environment that will offer our children unhealthy food in abundance and that parents have a great responsibility," she says.
But it is high time that we also review how we, at a societal level, can make it easy to do the right thing.
