Popular childhood drinks may raise blood pressure decades later
Research published in the journal Circulation indicates that regular consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and fruit juice from childhood into adulthood is linked to higher blood pressure later in life. The study highlights the importance of early dietary habits in preventing chronic cardiovascular conditions.
Why it matters
Identifying early-life dietary risk factors can help public health officials develop better prevention strategies for the rising rates of hypertension in younger populations.
Drinking fruit juice and sugar-sweetened beverages regularly from childhood into adulthood may increase the likelihood of developing high blood pressure later in life, according to new research published today in the American Heart Association's flagship journal Circulation.
"Dietary habits in early life can have lasting health consequences," said senior study author Vasanti Malik, Sc.D., M.Sc., an associate professor and Canada Research Chair in Nutrition and Chronic Disease Prevention in the department of nutritional sciences at Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and an adjunct faculty member in the department of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.
"High blood pressure is also emerging earlier in life, with growing rates being seen in younger adults, in children and adolescents, which highlights the importance of early detection and prevention," she said.
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