WASHINGTON (AP) -- Today's teenagers eat a little less fat and cholesterol than teens did in the late 1960s, concludes a government study that says the trend may give young people a better start at healthy adulthood.
Still, the cholesterol drop was just 4 percent, and only one in six children eats a heart-healthful diet, the National Institutes of Health reported Monday."The drop . . . doesn't necessarily knock your socks off," acknowledged NIH cholesterol coordina-
tor Dr. James Cleeman. "But if (teens) maintain a seven-point lower cholesterol for a lifetime, that can make a big difference."
Unfortunately, cholesterol matters even to children. Heart disease is the nation's leading killer, and autopsies of children killed in accidents showed that some of them had arteries that already were clogging with the fat.
Moreover, other heart risks are on the rise among children: Studies show more and more are overweight, and only about half of teens get enough exercise.
The new study, in this month's issue of the journal Preventive Medicine, used a massive federal health database to estimate the cholesterol levels and eating habits of children and teens.
The average total cholesterol level of today's teens is 160, Cleeman reported. That's down from a level of 167 in the late 1960s.
The new study also measured teens' levels of so-called good and bad cholesterol. But because earlier studies only measured total cholesterol, Cleeman could not compare those numbers.
Still, every 1 percent drop in people's total cholesterol levels translates into a 2 percent to 3 percent drop in the chances a person will have heart disease in the future, he said. So the 4 percent drop in teen cholesterol levels could prove significant if this generation of Americans can maintain the lower levels as they age.
During the same time period, adults' cholesterol levels dropped by 10 points.