Overweight kids are at more risk of having a stroke or heart attack, even if they lose the weight

Don’t just put it down to puppy fat, warn experts.

A new study has found that overweight kids are at greater risk of having a stroke or heart attack when they are older, even if they slim down.

Overweight kids are at risk of having health problems later in life

Researchers at Oxford University analysed the health records of 42,000 participants from the US, Australia and Finland from the ages of 3 to 50.

290 had suffered heart attacks, strokes or cardiovascular diseases and experts found that 20% of the group had an extra 10% body mass index as a child.

Even those who had been overweight kids but had shed their childhood chubbiness in adulthood were still at risk.

What’s more, those who had led an unhealthy lifestyle as a youngster seemed to have continued their bad eating adults throughout their life.

Author Professor Terence Dwyer said: “Programmes to prevent heart attacks and strokes should put more emphasis on healthy lifestyles in children.”

Slim adults could be paying the price of childhood obesity

Another study by researchers at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden had similar findings.

Experts studied data from nearly 1.7 million men in Sweden and found that those who had been overweight as a teenager were more likely to have a heart attack before they hit 60.

“We show that BMI in the young is a remarkably strong risk marker that persists during life,” study author Dr. Maria Aberg said in a news release.

“Our study supports close monitoring of BMI during puberty and preventing obesity with healthy eating and physical activity.

“As the prevalence of overweight and obesity in young adults continues to escalate, we may start to see correspondingly higher rates of heart attacks and strokes in the future.

“Urgent action is needed by parents, schools, and policymakers to halt the obesity epidemic in children and young people.”