Obese children 'need better care'
Obese children as young as three years of age could be at a significantly increased risk of heart disease in later life.That is according to a new article published in the journal Pediatrics, which suggested that elevated inflammatory markers such as certain types of protein are more prevalent in those who were obese as children.
Scientists from the University of North Carolina's School of Medicine warned that the presence of these markers was particularly worrying because they can cause "long-term, cumulative vascular damage".
Commenting on the figures, Dr David Haslam, chair of the National Obesity Forum, called for more to be done to protect children, particularly those who are already obese.
"This confirms what we already know and what we should be increasingly alarmed about," he said of the study.
Highlighting the importance of properly managing overweight children, Dr Haslam added: "It's all very well preventing obesity but there is already an epidemic."
