Kids with food insecurity, meaning they lack good access to nutritional foods, were more likely to have high blood pressure than kids with secure access to food, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association’s Joint Hypertension 2018 Scientific Sessions.
“High blood pressure—even in childhood—matters,” said study author Andrew Michael South, MD, assistant professor of pediatric nephrology at Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “As a kid, if you have high blood pressure, you’re at much higher risk of having high blood pressure as an adult—as young as in your 20s or early 30s. And hypertension sets the stage for other bad health problems because it impacts the heart and kidneys.”
