Specifically, the study linked obesity early in life to a "dysfunction" in the single cell layer that lines all blood vessels that may lead to the buildup of fatty deposits in the arteries that increases the risk of heart attacks, stroke and congestive heart failure.

"My colleagues in the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's and I found that regardless of age, race or sex, obesity in children and adolescents negatively impacts their endothelial function," study presenter Dr. Judith Groner, a pediatrician in Ambulatory Pediatrics at Nationwide Children's Hospital and The Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus said in a statement.

"Considering the connection between endothelial function and heart disease, this information is alarming given the high prevalence of childhood and adolescent obesity in our country."

Data from a non-invasive technique called venous occlusion plethysmography -- a measure of the responses of arm blood vessel responses as a cuff halts and restarts blood flow -- was compared to Body Mass Index. The study included 76 children between ages 9 and 18.

The findings were presented at the May Pediatric Academic Societies and Asian Society for Pediatric Research Joint Meeting