Tuesday, at the American Heart Association conference held in New Orleans, a study concerning the thickness of artery walls of teenagers was made public, revealing that obese children or those suffering from high cholesterol levels were more prone to developing heart disease from an early age.

Moreover, research performed on youngsters’ arteries showed that their vascular age was actually the one people with a chronological age of 45 normally register, which was the aftermath of fatty build-up on their blood vessels.

The study looked at 70 children aged 6 to 19 and has yet to be published, scientists stating that further research was needed in order to achieve cogent results.

Nevertheless, they have added that the method used to measure the thickness of the children’s arteries was highly reliable and more prone to offer conclusive results than the one focusing on cholesterol levels only.

Researchers appealed to ultrasounds to determine the thickness of the participants’ blood vessels, discovering that the children’s carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT) was significantly increased in those with high risk of obesity or who had high levels of triglyceride in the blood.

Of the 70 children who took part in the study conducted by the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Medicine and Children's Mercy Hospital, 34 were boys, whereas 40 were obese, while the others had high levels of bad cholesterol. Research found that  52 of the participants had a maximum CIMT of at least 0.5 millimeters, which is considered the average CIMT of a 45-year-old person.

Consequently, the study concluded that these youngsters were exposed to the danger of having a heart attack or a stroke, along with the one of developing cardiovascular disease.

Currently, the United States is facing an obesity epidemic among children, with a large number of them suffering from type 2 diabetes as a result of their weight issues.