Born First And Headed For Health Trouble? Firstborn children end
up a little taller, smarter and richer than their younger
siblings, on average. But are the eldest kids more likely to
develop diabetes and heart disease when they grow up, too?
That's the suggestion from a study conducted by researchers in
New Zealand, who found that firstborn children under age 12 had
slightly higher blood pressure and were slightly less sensitive
to insulin than their younger siblings. The results were
published online in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and
Metabolism. Doctors are looking more closely at children for
early signs of diabetes and heart disease, as Type 2 diabetes
and obesity have become commonplace in children and adults. So,
are firstborns doomed? Not likely. First of all, this
researchers measured the health of 85 children at one point in
time. It's what's called an association study; it can't prove
that being born first caused the differences the scientists
found. "As far as I know there's not a strong