The Skinny on Fat

Birth to 2

• To assure proper growth and brain development, half of your child’s daily calories should come from fat.

2 to 18

• Fat should supply 30 percent of your child’s daily calories.
• Reduce saturated fats to no more than 10 percent of the day’s calories. Foods high in saturated fat include butter, lunch meats, and bacon.
• Limit cholesterol in the diet to less than 300 milligrams daily. Foods high in cholesterol include eggs, processed cheese, and shrimp.
• Check food labels for nutritional information including cholesterol and saturated fat content.
  

Useful Info: Cholesterol Screenings

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends testing for a child:

• whose parents or grandparents have had a heart attack or have been diagnosed with blocked arteries or have a disease affecting the blood vessels (such as a stroke) before age 55.
• whose parents have a high blood cholesterol (200 mg/dl or higher).
• who is adopted or whose family medical history is unknown.
• who has other risk factors likely to cause early onset of coronary heart disease, such as cigarette smoking, severe obesity, diabetes, or high blood pressure.

Note: mg/dl=milligrams per 100 milliliters

Cholesterol Profile in Children and Adolescents

Understanding Test Results

A cholesterol profile measures the level of fats in the blood – both harmful fats and helpful ones. The two types of cholesterol most commonly measured are the high-density lipoprotein (HDL), which is the “good” cholesterol, and the low-density lipoprotein (LDL), which is the “bad” cholesterol. The LDL cholesterol contributes to the build-up of problem-causing fat deposits along blood vessel walls.