"When I was younger, I could eat anything." You hear variations of that refrain frequently and perhaps you've said it yourself--maybe while guiltily refilling your plate with a second serving of dessert. A study published in the April 2019 issue of Hypertension suggests that youth doesn't offer the carte blanche we previously assumed.

Definition - carte blanche: complete freedom to act as one wishes or thinks best

In 2017, the American Academy of Pediatrics tightened their guidelines for measuring high blood pressure in kids. Researchers from Tulane University decided to find out if the stricter guidelines did a more accurate job of predicting the likelihood that a child would develop high blood pressure as an adult.

The researchers compared the childhood and adult heart-healthiness of members of the Bogalusa Heart Study, which tracked thousands of people's hearts for more than 30 years. The Tulane researchers found that 8 percent of the kids who were considered healthy under old guidelines were considered high-risk under the new guidelines. Now adults, that same 8 percent has developed hypertension and associated complications at a much higher rate than other study participants. If these individuals had been made aware of their high-risk status as children, they could have begun fighting for better heart health.

Knowing that childhood heart health lays the foundation for adult heart health, Ascension Saint Thomas asks parents to consider the following:

• Encourage your child to play outside. The CDC recommends that kids ages 6 - 17 complete 1 hour of moderate physical activity each day. Family walks around the neighborhood may be a good place to start.

• Show your child resources like KidsHealth.org, which teaches young readers about heart functions and explains the benefits of regular exercise and a balanced diet.

• When talking to your child, avoid defining food as "good" or "bad." This sort of language may encourage your son or daughter to develop an unhealthy fixation on dieting or thinness. Instead, consider bringing your child with you on grocery runs and talking through your reasons for adding heart-healthy items to your cart.

• Replace the junk food in your kitchen with fruits and vegetables so that healthy items become the most easily-accessible snacks in your house.