The number of children having problems with their weight will grow considerably in the years to come and so will their death rates caused by heart disease, according to researchers from the United States and Denmark.

The Danish study, which tracked almost 276,000 children from 1930 to 1976, discovered that those who were overweight when they were 7 to 13 years old were more likely to develop heart disease between the ages of 25 and 71. Even those who were just a little chubby as kids face the same risk regardless of whether they lost the weight when they grew up. The heavier they were as youngsters, particularly entering their teens, the greater the risk, researchers found.

"This is incredibly important. This is the first study to convincingly show that excess childhood weight is associated with heart disease in adulthood or with any significant health problem in adulthood. Even a few extra pounds increase the risk. That's the very frightening message from our results," said lead author of the study, Jennifer L. Baker of the Institute of Preventive Medicine in Copenhagen.

Baker said that the risk could be reduced substantially if the child lost weight while still young and remained at a normal weight.

"This gives us hope. This really suggests that if an intervention occurs during this short period of time to help a child attain and maintain a normal weight, the risk of heart disease could be reduced," Baker said.

The second study conducted by Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo of the University of California at San Francisco, used federal statistics from the year 2000 to show that almost 17 percent of boys and 16 percent of girls now in the United States, meaning more than 9 million totals are overweight. In addition, this number is expected to increase to 30 to 37 percent by 2020, when they turn 35.

About 32 percent of the women in that group who now are obese, that ratio will rise to 34 to 44 percent according to Bibbins-Domingo.

Researchers reported that this statistics would lead to more heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure at a younger age and even aggressive treatment would not be effective in treating them.

They also estimated the rate of heart disease would increase by 5 percent to 16 percent by 2035.

"Barring a major advance in the treatment of either excessive weight gain itself or its associated alterations in blood pressure, lipid levels and glucose metabolism, current adolescent overweight will have a substantial effect on public health far into the future," was the conclusion of the study .

Melinda Sothern, an expert on childhood obesity at Louisiana State University in New Orleans said the findings are disturbing because they suggest not only that overweight children experience more disease and disability in childhood but also that many are also destined to be more sickly young adults.

"Overweight children are already losing their childhood. They can't do the same types of activities as healthy-weight children. Now they will lose their early adulthood as well," she said.

The findings of the study appeared in the recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.