Childhood obesity and blood sugar, not cholesterol, predict premature death

The New England Journal of Medicine just published this disturbing study concerning childhood risk factors for cardiovascular disease on later death as adults. They set out to determine which risk factors including "body-mass index (BMI), glucose tolerance, and blood pressure and cholesterol levels predicted premature death." Their cautionary conclusion: "Obesity, glucose intolerance, and hypertension in childhood were strongly associated with increased rates of premature death from endogenous causes in this population. In contrast, childhood hypercholesterolemia was not a major predictor of premature death from endogenous causes."