Stress in Early Life ups heart disease risk

Stress of illness in newly born children may not good for the heart, reveal researchers from Georgia Regents University, USA.

Although the research was done on rats, it was found that when separated from their mothers even for a few hours each day, they experienced a significant decrease in the ability of their heart to relax and refill with oxygen-rich blood.

As a result an extra stressor was added to raise the blood pressure.

It was estimated that illness during early life can be so stressed that it appears to take an early toll on their heart.

Longitudinal studies in humans have shown long-term cardiovascular implications, such as babies born to mothers during the Dutch famine of World War II, growing up at increased risk for cardiovascular diseases as well as diabetes, obesity and other health problems.