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Mike Mitka

JAMA. 2005;294:2558-2563.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Worried that children are not receiving a healthy diet and are learning lifestyle-related behaviors that increase the risk of heart disease and stroke in adulthood, the American Heart Association (AHA) issued new recommendations for feeding and exercise beginning at birth. The guidelines, issued in late September and endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, are meant to encourage parents and clinicians to take a "primordial prevention" approach beginning with infancy (Gidding et al. Circulation. 2005;112:2061-2075).

Although current science links poor nutrition and lack of exercise to heart disease and stroke risk, many parents and caregivers are not getting that message, with the result that children are not receiving a proper diet or developing a healthy lifestyle, said Samuel S. Gidding, MD, chair of the writing committee. "The American concept of a normal diet has gotten out of whack," said Gidding, who is also a professor of pediatric cardiology . . . [Full Text of this Article]

BEGINNING AT BIRTH