"It is well-established that heart disease begins to develop in childhood. Now, two new studies add to a burgeoning body of evidence that developing heart-healthy habits as a youngster or adolescent may have lasting benefits in adulthood."
So summarizes the article in the November 30, 2010 WSJ.
"One of the reports suggests that the presence of such risk factors as high blood pressure and abnormal cholesterol by about age 9 strongly predicts a thickening of the walls in the carotid or neck arteries in early adulthood.. . . . Children who ate fruits and vegetables once a day had healthier arteries as young adults than those who ate them less than twice a month. "