By Anne Watkins

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, and high cholesterol is known to be one of the major contributing factors to cardiovascular illnesses and fatality.

Until recently, it was widely believed that high cholesterol was mainly an adult problem. But with the rise of childhood obesity, experts are now saying that we need to take a closer look at cholesterol levels in children.

A recent study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that says that one in five young people now suffers from high cholesterol only underlines the seriousness of this point.

You may remember when, back in 2008, the American Academy of Pediatrics publicly recommended that all kids aged 2 and older should begin getting tested for abnormally high levels of cholesterol, especially when there's a family history of problems.

At the time, this recommendation stirred controversy, but it's becoming increasingly clear that caution is needed. Even when young people aren't negatively affected by cholesterol, later-life problems can be traced back to childhood habits and environmental factors.

What Is Cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a fat-like substance that is created in the liver and consumed in animal-based foods like meat, dairy products and eggs.

Some cholesterol is essential for the body's healthy functioning. For example, cholesterol helps strengthen cell walls, and it's needed for the production of Vitamin D, certain hormones and digestive acids.

However, for these purposes, the body only needs a small amount of cholesterol. And in particular it needs high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the so-called "good" kind of cholesterol, which helps clear away low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad” cholesterol. HDL is actually good to have in abundance.

With LDL, the opposite is true. When you have too much LDL in your body, a thick plaque develops in the arteries, limiting the space for blood to flow to the heart. In time, this can lead to atherosclerosis, essentially a hardening of the arteries, which can have dangerous effects on the heart's functioning.

Also, this LDL buildup can restrict the amount of oxygen-bearing blood that reaches your heart. This can lead to chest pain, coronary blockage and eventually heart attack.

What Affects Cholesterol Levels?

Your cholesterol level is affected by a variety of factors, including the following:

• Diet: Some foods are naturally higher in cholesterol and saturated fat. The more of these you eat, the more cholesterol build-up you're likely to have.
• Exercise: Exercising for at least 30 minutes per day can have a direct effect on lowering LDL cholesterols while raising HDL cholesterols.
• Weight: Weight gain is often the result of consuming the same types of foods that contribute to high levels of cholesterol in the body. Thus, obesity and high cholesterol often go hand in hand.
• Age: As we get older, cholesterol build-up increases, and it builds up more easily.
• Gender: Pre-menopausal women are at a lower risk of high cholesterol. After menopause, their risk begins to approach that of men.
• Heredity: The body's tolerance and processing of cholesterol can be directly affected by genetic factors. Thus, if your family has a history of cholesterol problems, you need to be more careful than the average person.
• Smoking: Smoking reduces HDL cholesterol.

Who Needs Screening?

It's recommended that everyone over the age of 20 have a cholesterol screening every five years. As we age, the importance of screening only goes up, so that people 50 or older may want to get screened even more often, particularly if they have other risk factors.

Among children, however, the issue is more complicated. Children who are obese, have diabetes or don't get enough exercise should definitely be screened for high cholesterol.

However, we can't depend completely upon these factors. As noted above, heredity can play a large role in making a person susceptible to high cholesterol. Thus, there have been plenty of well-documented cases in which perfectly healthy children have been found to have high cholesterol.

But these cases are only a small minority. While it is recommended that kids who are overweight or otherwise unhealthy should get screened, genetic disposition is not necessarily a large enough issue to warrant screening for a child who eats healthy and stays fit. However, if your child or teen is already getting a check-up or is being treated for something else, and especially if blood is being taken, it can't hurt to ask your child's doctor about having the blood tested for cholesterol.

What Can Be Done about High Cholesterol in Kids?

Often, all that needs to be done to get a high-cholesterol child back on track is to encourage him or her to eat better and to exercise much more. Kids need to have at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day -- which means sustained activity, not just short bursts.

It's also important that they get plenty of fruits and vegetables, and that parents limit children's animal product intake to reasonable amounts. It is possible to feed your child too much meat. One or two servings per day is sufficient.

While it can be difficult to get your child to find time to exercise during the week, one way to do so is to limit the amount of time your child is allowed to spend in front of the television and Internet. It's been shown that children whose parents enforce a two-hour limit on media consumption are much less likely to be obese, which usually means they have lower cholesterol.

During the summer, it's a good idea to look into camps and other recreational programs that can help health-challenged children get on track and stay there.

And for those kids who have high cholesterol in spite of a healthy lifestyle, talk to your doctor about things you can do, including possible prescription drug usage. This is not always an appealing choice, as kids who start taking high-cholesterol drugs essentially will have to take them forever, but it can't hurt to ask.