My son ate a hot dog for dinner last night. After he was in bed and I got online to catch up on the day's news, I read that the American Academy of Pediatrics is endorsing a new recommendation that children as young as nine years old should have their first cholesterol screening. Whoops. Does it make it better that it was an all natural hot dog?
The new guidelines are meant to assess heart disease risk as children become adults. As the number of obese children climbs, so does the risk of heart attack and stroke. In the past, only children with a family history of heart disease or high cholesterol were screened. Now your child's pediatrician may recommend a test much earlier than you expected.
Experts say even children who are not obese can have high cholesterol. It's something worth keeping track of, not just in our kids, but for our own health as well.
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