BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Over the past three decades, levels of childhood obesity have more than doubled in American children. Researchers now have proof that these excess pounds raise the risk of future heart disease.

Doctors followed 277,000 Danish school children for decades and found that those who were overweight as youngsters were more likely to have heart disease as adults. Children who were heavier than average between the ages of 7 and 13 years old had increased risks of both non-fatal and fatal heart disease later in life.

The extra weight was more damaging the longer it persisted -- so kids who were overweight as teenagers faced a higher risk than those who were overweight in early childhood.

In a related study, researchers used current statistics on obesity and heart disease to determine how childhood obesity may affect heart disease rates in the future. They estimated that, if things keep going as they are now, by 2035 there will be 100,000 extra cases of heart disease among Americans that are caused by obesity. ------------ Source: Published in the New England Journal of Medicine by researchers from Denmark and also the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation