Kid Couch Potatoes Show Signs of Future Heart Disease

Even children can start showing signs of heart risks at an early age, a new study has found.

Sedentary children can wind up with narrowed arteries in the back of the eyes -- an early sign of high blood pressure and future heart disease, according to the study reported by My Health News Daily.

Meanwhile, kids who exercised an hour or more each day had wider arteries there than did children who spent a half hour of less each day being active, the study said.

And the more time the children spent watching television, the more the arteries narrowed, reports My Health News Daily.

Another doctor not involved with the Australian study said there can be other factors in arterial narrowing, such as blood pressure, cholesterol and weight -- but "even before kids are overweight, even before they have elevated cholesterol and blood pressure, just with the mere fact of being physically inactive there are already some of the changes with blood vessels," which show the factors are all interrelated.

Read more from My Health News Daily at MSNBC.com.

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