Coronary disease risk factors such as hypertension, dyslipidaemia, impaired glucose tolerance and vascular abnormalities may be present in overweight and obese children. Now a study in Denmark (Jennifer L Baker and colleagues. New England Journal of Medicine 2007;357:2329–37; see also Perspective, ibid: 2325–7) has confirmed that a higher childhood body mass index (BMI) increases the risk of coronary disease in adult life.

The cohort study included 276 835 people born between 1930 and 1976. They had measurements of height and …