TURKU, Finland, Sept. 11 Young children taught heart healthy eating habits can strongly influence their heart disease risk later in life, a Finnish study found.
The Turku Coronary Risk Factor Intervention Project discovered children indoctrinated about the benefits of a low saturated fat, low cholesterol diet reduced their saturated fat intake, serum total and low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, "bad" cholesterol concentrations throughout the first 14 years of life, reported the study in Circulation: Journal of the America Heart Association.
Key dietary changes in these "intervention" families included using soft margarine and liquid oils instead of butter to maintain adequate fat intake, while lowering consumption of saturated fat and cholesterol.
"The aim of the diet counseling in our study was not to reduce the total number of fat calories in the diet, but to shift the child's intake from saturated toward unsaturated fats and have cholesterol intakes of less than 200 milligrams," lead author Dr. Harri Niinikoski of the University of Turku in Finland said in the statement.
The intervention families consisted of 540 children and their families who underwent intensive diet counseling. The control group of 522 children and family members received only basic dietary advice.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
