Cholesterol and Kids

QUESTION: It is hard enough to control my teenagers' eating habits when it
comes to calories and junk food. I now see that mothers have to worry about
cholesterol in their kids as well. Won't it be time enough to worry when they
are adults and on their own? I don't see how what they do now can seriously
effect them too much later on when they grow out of it.
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ANSWER: There is more to it than you suspect, but the fact is that what you
manage to instill in your young people now can have a life time benefit for
them. Research has demonstrated that when children between the ages of 8 and
18 with high cholesterol levels were examined as young adults age 20 to 30,
43% were again found to have high cholesterol levels. Family history of heart
disease was another related factor, as was obesity and smoking. It is
therefore not merely a question of learning the basics of good nutrition, but
also establishing the proper life styles and attitudes towards health in
general that will make a big difference in the end. It may be that we can not
always control the genes we pass on to our offspring, but when we establish
the proper home environment that helps teach lessons that lead to healthful
habits, we can feel good about the contribution we have made to the next
generation.