Obese Children’s Arteries Show Signs of Heart Disease.

The hazards of being an obese child go beyond schoolyard teasing or being picked last in gym. The arteries of obese children exhibit a stiffness normally found in adults with heart disease, according to a new study from BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver.

Canadian researchers looked at 63 obese children and 55 children of normal weight, both groups with an average age of 13. The obese children had abnormal results on an ultrasound test of the heart and blood vessels, which measures how quickly blood flows through the body.