Kids as young as 8 are recommended cholesterol-lowering drugs if diet alone fails to work in order to prevent heart disease later in life, according to the new guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatrics released on Monday.

This is a significant change from the previous recommendations last updated in 1998, which recommended screening of children having a family history of heart problems or rare, inherited cholesterol disorders who are older than 10, especially if they fail to lose weight.

According to the new guidelines, doctors should consider putting patients who are at least 8 and have too much LDL cholesterol, also known as “bad” cholesterol, and who also suffers from conditions such as obesity and high blood pressure on cholesterol-lowering drugs. Moreover, screening is advised for kids whose family history is not known in order to prevent heart disease.

High levels of bad cholesterol and low amounts of good cholesterol increase the risk of heart disease in adults. The optimal level of “bad” cholesterol for most kids is 110 or lower. If “bad” cholesterol levels are higher than 160 doctors will prescribe a cholesterol-lowering drug and dietary changes, according to the new guidelines.

“If we are more aggressive about this in childhood, I think we can have an impact on what happens later in life…and avoid some of these heart attacks and strokes in adulthood,” Dr. Stephen Daniels of the AAP’s nutrition committee, said, as quoted by the Associated Press.

The AAP also recommends low-fat milk for 1-year-olds in cases where overweight and obesity run in the family. Also, kids older than 2 should be given a healthful diet including foods high in fiber and many fruits and vegetables. Parents should avoid as much as possible fast foods and commercially baked goods, which often contain saturated trans fats that lead to obesity and further to cardiovascular problems and diabetes.

The new guidelines are as far more important to be followed, as one third of U.S. children are overweight and about 17 percent obese. The childhood obesity epidemic has become a national problem for years, as most of the obese children are more likely to develop obesity-related diseases.

About 176,500 children and adolescents younger than 20 have diabetes, and 2 million teenagers have blood glucose levels higher than normal, a condition called pre-diabetes, according to the latest statistics of the American Diabetes Association.

The new guidelines appear in the July issue of the journal Pediatrics.