London, March 23 : Overweight kids are developing cholesterol levels usually found in 50-year-olds.

Experts from Great Ormond Street Hospital said obese children as young as eight were also being referred to them with dangerously high blood pressure (BP).

These children are at risk of early heart diseases or strokes but doctors warn they are less likely to respond to drugs such as statins, which had been developed for adults.

They added that these children risk long-term damage to their heart and arteries even if their diet improves in later life, the Daily Mail reports.

Medical researcher Lee Hudson from Ormond said: "What we're finding is metabolic syndrome (high BP) and early diabetes - things you would find in a 40-year-old."

"We're seeing 13-year-olds with a lipid (cholesterol) profile you would find in a 50-year-old, and eight-nine-year-olds with high blood pressure. It means big trouble," he said.

The proportion of children aged two to 10 who are overweight or obese has increased from 22.7 percent to 27.7 percent in England between 1995 and 2004.

Doctors said parents who fail to educate their children about portion sizes and feed them high-fat instant meals are partly to blame. (IANS)