Childhood obesity increases future cardiovascular risks. How to spot those risks early on.

One in five American children is considered obese, putting them at risk for some very adult-like diseases.

Can what you eat as a kid affect your heart when you grow up?

Worldwide health experts call obesity an epidemic. Obese kids are much more likely to have high blood pressure and high cholesterol, which puts them at risk for cardiovascular disease.

A new study suggests eating patterns that could help kids get on a healthier track.

If you think that what kids put in their bodies now won’t matter years from now, think again.

“It’s not generally known that cardiovascular disease, things like heart attacks and strokes really have their beginnings in very early childhood,” said Professor Emeritus, Dr. Michael Macknin.

Manu Sharma is with cardiovascular services at Golisano Children’s hospital. By around 22weeks, the heart is developed enough to evaluate.

“So those hearts are roughly the size of a walnut,” Sharma said.

Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic enrolled 96 pairs of parents and their kids in a 52-week study to see if one of three healthy eating plans could lower their cardiovascular risk.

In one case, the kids and one parent were assigned to eat foods from a plant-based diet, which included fruit, vegetables, and healthy proteins, like legumes, beans, chickpeas, and lentils. The parent and child could have also chosen the American Heart Association diet, which included fruits and vegetables, dairy and lean meats, or the Mediterranean diet, which is similar to the Heart Association diet, but it emphasizes fish and nuts, and olive oil.

The researchers used fasting blood tests to measure the biomarkers of cardiovascular risk and found all three eating plans were effective.

Dr. Macknin said, “Things like blood pressure, both systolic and diastolic, went down. The total cholesterol decreased. The LDL cholesterol, which is the bad cholesterol, also went down.”

Dr. Eric Eason is a pediatric cardiologist at Golisano Children’s hospital. “The technology is amazing. Now we have cardiac MRIs that give just beautiful images, you can see every piece of the heart, the valves, the defects, there’s things like 40 flow, where you can actually calculate how much flow is going through each vessel. That’s huge because that can save you a cath lab procedure. The echo imaging that we have here is outstanding,” said Dr. Eason.

Eason also says that finding these abnormalities early is critically important. About 1% of babies being born in the U.S. arrive into the world with a congenital heart defect. The AMrch of Dimes equates that number to about 1 in 100 births.

“About 50% of defects can be detected prenatally with a fetal echocardiogram. And that? That’s just huge for the families because you have that time to absorb the information, process and then plan for a safe delivery,” Dr. Eason said.

Again, knowing what to do beforehand greatly improves future outcomes. Some repairs can be done in-utero others can be done shortly after birth. Newer treatments mean loner lives. “And as treatments have improved, we are seeing more and more adults with congenital heart disease,” said Dr. Eason.

Researchers say that study shows that even small changes to eating habits make a difference.

“Pick a diet that you think you can stick with and just do the best you can. You don’t have to be perfect to make wonderful changes,” Dr, Macknin said.

Dr. Macknin says most of the study participants lost significant weight at the four-week mark, but the rate of weight loss was hard to maintain over the course of the full year.

Despite that, the cardiovascular benefits were still evident.