Most people begin their lives with healthy hearts, however a poor diet and lifestyle means that for many, a decline in heart health begins when they are still children, US researchers have insisted.

They monitored almost 9,000 children aged between two and 11 years between 2003 and 2010. They focused on four of the main components that are associated with heart health - body mass index (BMI), a healthy diet, blood pressure and total cholesterol.

They found that while all children achieved at least one ideal measurement in these four areas, no child achieved all four.

The area that children most commonly fell down on was a healthy diet. In fact, less than 1% achieved four or five of the five components of a healthy diet - namely a high intake of fruit and vegetables, a high intake of fish, a high intake of whole grains, a low intake of sugar-sweetened drinks and a low intake of sodium (salt).

Overall, less than 10% of the children consumed the recommended daily intake of fruit, vegetables or fish. And just 3% of boys and 2.4% of girls managed to eat the recommended daily intake of whole grains.

Over half of the children were found to be consuming too many sugar-sweetened drinks, while 90% were consuming too much sodium.

Around 30% of the children who took part were already found to be overweight or obese. This was more common in the children aged between six and 11 than in the two to five age group.

Meanwhile, around 40% of the children were found to have poor total cholesterol levels.

According to the researchers from Northwestern University in Chicago, while heart health tends to be optimal at birth, unhealthy behaviours during childhood can lead to a substantial decline.

"Our findings indicate that, in general, children start with pretty good blood pressure. But if they have a horrible diet, it will drive a worsening body mass index (BMI) and cholesterol levels.

"The better we can equip our children to make healthy choices, the more cardiovascular health will be preserved into adulthood. And those who preserve their heart health into middle age live much longer and are much healthier while they live," they said.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

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