Children who do not take enough exercise are at an increased risk of developing heart disease in later life.
This is according to recent research from Sweden, which looked at 223 eight to 11-year-olds.
Young people should have around an hour of exercise everyday. The team discovered that those who had a significantly lower level of physical activity had a higher composite risk score for heart and circulatory disease.
This score took into account the blood pressure, resting heart rate and body fat of the children.
Natasha Stewart, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, commented: "Heart and circulatory disease is something that affects adults, not children, so it's difficult to predict the risk of a child developing this later in life."
She added that it is clear that people can benefit from physical activity at any age and that it can help to prevent children from developing diseases later in life.
However, exercising can also improve young people's concentration at school and their overall mental health and wellbeing.
© Adfero Ltd
Heart treatment news : 17 May 2011
