What Do We Know about Diet and Markers of Cardiovascular Health in Children: A Review

Abstract

Chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the main health concerns in the 21st century, with CVD as the number one cause of mortality worldwide. Although CVD hard endpoints such as stroke or heart attack do not usually occur in children, evidence shows that the manifestation of CVD risk factors begins in childhood, preceding clinical complications of CVD in adulthood. Dietary intake is a modifiable risk factor that has been shown to make a substantial contribution to the risk of CVD in adulthood. However, less is known about the association between dietary intake and markers of cardiovascular health in children. This review summarises the current evidence on the relationship between dietary intake and markers of cardiovascular health including traditional CVD risk factors, physical fitness, and indices of arterial stiffness and wave reflection in children. Original research published in English, between January 2008 and December 2018 fulfilling the objective of this review were screened and included. Findings show that adaptation of a healthy lifestyle early in life can be beneficial for reducing the risk of CVD later in life. Furthermore, keeping arterial stiffness low from a young age could be a potential CVD prevention strategy. However, limited studies are available on diet-arterial stiffness relationship in children, and future research is required to better understand this association to aid the development and implementation of evidence-based strategies for preventing CVD-related complications later in life.

Relationships between Dietary Patterns and Indices of Arterial Stiffness and Central Arterial Wave Reflection in 9–11-Year-Old Children

“…Overall, there are limited information available on the relationship between dietary patterns and arterial health in children [28]. Although dietary patterns are reported to be associated with PWV and AIx in a high-risk population of children and adolescents (obese, high blood pressure, diabetic) [29,30], there was no such evidence in our dominantly normal weight children.…”

Child Consumption of Whole Fruit and Fruit Juice Following Six Months of Exposure to a Pediatric Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program

“…Although consumption of fruit has been associated with a reduced risk of obesity and chronic disease [1][2][3][4][5][6], better psychological well-being [1,[7][8][9], and improved gut health [1,10], intake fails to meet dietary recommendations among all but the youngest children in the US [11,12]. Considering the growing evidence of an association between greater fruit and vegetable consumption during childhood and reduced chronic diseases in adulthood [13][14][15][16], both short-and long-term implications of programs that successfully increase fruit intake among children are likely to be significant. However, public health initiatives should not only address deficits in nutrition knowledge [17,18], but also enduring challenges with regard to the access to and affordability of fresh, high-quality fruits-particularly among low-income children [6,[19][20][21].…”

Fruit and Vegetable Prescriptions for Pediatric Patients Living in Flint, Michigan: A Cross-Sectional Study of Food Security and Dietary Patterns at Baseline

“…Pediatricians, who often follow children from infancy to young adulthood, are uniquely positioned to influence lifelong dietary behaviors [24,25,26]. With mounting evidence that higher fruit and vegetable consumption during childhood is associated with reductions in chronic diseases in adulthood [5,24,27,28], both the immediate and long-term implications of fruit and vegetable prescription programs for pediatric patients could be substantial.…”