One in every five American teens are at risk

A new study suggests that one in every five American teenagers is at risk of developing heart disease.

The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made the shocking claim on Thursday.  The agency says that high cholesterol levels in our nation’s youth are putting them at an unneeded risk of developing complications later in life.

The study, which was published ing the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, surveyed over 3,100 teens from 1999 to 2006.  The results indicated that over 20 percent of youths aged 12 to 19 had cholesterol levels that were deemed to be unhealthy.

Teens that were overweight were more susceptible to high cholesterol, but a shockingly, 14 percent of the ones with normal body weight fell into the unhealthy category.

“Overweight and obese young people are at far greater risk of having abnormal lipid levels than are youths with normal weights,” Ashleigh May of the CDC’s Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention said in a release to the press. “The current epidemic of childhood obesity makes this a matter of significant and urgent concern.”

High cholesterol can lead to a number of complications, including Cardiovascular disease (CVD).  The study says that CVD is the leading cause of death among adults in the United States.