Early malnutrition increases risk of heart disease

Children who experience acute malnutrition are more likely to develop heart disease later in life, research has found.

This is the first evidence that early nutrition plays a role in health decades later, an article in the European Heart Journal said.

Researchers in The Netherlands looked at the health of girls who lived through the famine at the end of the Second World War. They were followed up in 2007.

Those who were severely affected by the famine were found to have had a 27 per cent greater risk of developing heart disease, compared to those less severely affected.

"The most important message is that it is good to realise that disturbing the development of children through acute malnutrition can have implications for later adult health," lead author Annet van Abeelen told the BBC.

"It's not only the short-term direct consequences that matter. Even 50 years later, there is still a higher risk of adult coronary heart disease."

Victoria Taylor from the British Heart Foundation said: “Although it wasn’t clear exactly what changes occurred in the body to increase the risk, this highlights how our environment can have a long term impact upon our heart health.

"It adds to the importance of providing a healthy diet for children and young people because of the way it can shape their future heart health.”

This article was published on Thu 25 August 2011