New exercise advice is needed to protect children from developing heart and circulation problems in adulthood, according to research conducted as part of a European Commission-sponsored project.

Published in the BMC Medicine journal, the research, which studied 3,000 children, found those under 10 should get between 60 and 85 minutes’ exercise each day. This is important to help reduce the chance of heart disease, improve circulation and prevent stroke complications in later in life.

The research was conducted by European experts who observed links between exercise in young children and the risk of developing cardiovascular disease in adulthood.

Of those studied, 15 per cent had high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, as well as skinfold thicknesses which suggested they could be at risk.

The study also found that younger boys may need to be more active than the 60 minutes per day currently advised by NHS guidelines in order to keep in shape.

Findings suggested boys aged two to five needed to be physically active for at least 70 minutes per day to keep fit, with this suggestion rising to 80 minutes per day in boys aged six to nine. According to the findings in the journal, at least 20 of these minutes needed to include vigorous exercise.

For girls it was found that for both age groups to stay healthy 60 minutes of activity a day was necessary, inline with current NHS guidelines. Though it was again recommended that of these 60 minutes 20 of them needed to include vigorous exercise.

The new research is part of the European Commission-sponsored project known as IDEFICS (identification and prevention of dietary - and lifestyle - induced health effects in children and infants), which is looking into the epidemic of obesity and ill-health affecting Europe's young people.

A provisional publication of the study is available here: