THURSDAY, March 1 (HealthDay News) -- Children who are tall as
toddlers or grow fast during their teenage years are more likely to
have lower
On the other hand, people who gain excess weight after age 15
run a higher risk of higher
"Children who grew more slowly in height in the first two years
of life had higher total cholesterol levels in adulthood. And those
who had a high
The results are published in the March issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
For the study, Skidmore's team collected data on 2,311 men and women who participated in the Medical Research Council long term study. All the participants were born in one week of March 1946. They had their height and weight measured at ages of 2, 4, 7, 15, 36 and 53. At 53, blood samples were taken to determine cholesterol levels.
The researchers found that the more height gained before age 2 and after age 15, the lower the cholesterol levels at age 53. Lower cholesterol levels were more strongly associated with leg length rather than trunk length.
Conversely, higher
Skidmore said it's "vital that parents are aware of the
importance of nutrition in
It's also vital that children be taught about -- and encouraged to eat -- healthful diets, Skidmore said. "There is a large amount of information publicly available on healthy eating, and further research is needed to investigate the factors that prevent people from eating healthily," she added.
