Bad diets in childhood may be contributing to heart problems in later life, the Irish Heart Foundation has warned.
Publishing a set of nutrition guidelines for children yesterday, the foundation said that a growing body of scientific evidence suggested the processes leading to cardiovascular disease began in childhood.
Little information is available about the eating habits of children below the age of nine, the IHF concedes. But studies of schoolchildren suggest a higher than desirable fat content in their diets, with high-energy snack foods most to blame.
The guidelines encourage breastfeeding - believed to contribute to lower blood cholesterol levels - and a relatively high-fat diet for infants.
Between the ages of two to five, milk should remain a primary source of calcium, but low-fat milk can be considered. This period should see a gradual reduction of fat in meals, down to about 35 per cent of the child's total food intake.
In general, children's diets should include a wide variety of foodstuffs, with the traditional food pyramid used as a guide. Snacks should be an occasional treat but never part of a staple diet, and salt should not be added to children's meals.
The IHF encourages regular family meals as a way of limiting the intake of snacks and high-calorie drinks outside the home.
It also says parents should limit television viewing and thereby reduce exposure to food advertising, "a key influence on children's food choices".
The foundation, which published the guidelines at a conference in Dublin organised by the National Heart Alliance, called for more research on children's nutrition in Ireland, and also urged legislation to underpin proper labelling of food contents.
The recent Health Behaviours of Schoolchildren survey suggested a dominant feature in the high-fat diet of young people was snack-food, with boys aged 9-17 eating more of it than girls.
Disadvantaged children were also higher consumers of snack food than other social groups.
Cardiovascular disease is projected to remain the biggest single cause of death in Western countries into the 2020s.
In Ireland, deaths before 65 from coronary heart disease are the highest in the EU for both men and women.