A new study links fetal development to a risk factor for coronary heart disease in adult life.

The study, conducted by researchers at the USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine, also provides evidence that poor fetal growth permanently alters cholesterol metabolism. The findings were published in the Dec. 20, 1997, edition of the journal The Lancet.

Researchers studied the levels of HDL apolipoprotein A1, an independent predictor of coronary heart disease, in 16 Jamaican children whose mothers were not properly nourished during pregnancy.

HDL apolipoprotein Al transports cholesterol from the peripheral tissues back to the liver for excretion. High levels of HDL apolipoprotein A1 usually mean that a person has a good cholesterol level.

"We found the lower the birth weight, the lower the HDL apolipoprotein A1 levels in these children," says Dr. Farook Jahoor, a Baylor associate professor of pediatrics. "The fact that they have low levels of HDL means their ability to transport cholesterol back to the liver for excretion is impaired."

Dr. Jahoor believes the finding will enable pediatricians to use HDL apolipo-protein A1 as a screening tool to determine those children who are at greater risk of coronary heart disease later in life.

- From the USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine

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Courtesy of Texas Medical Center News

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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