Should eight-year-olds take anti-cholesterol medications? Yes, say new guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The new advice calls for doctors to screen all children ages two to ten for risk factors of heart disease (such as childhood obesity or family histories). If a child's cholesterol readings are too high, and if lifestyle changes such as better diet and more exercise do not help, then the AAP advises doctors to prescribe statin drugs - even to children as young as eight.

"We're in an epidemic," said Dr. Jatinder Bhatia, professor of neonatology at the Medical College of Georgia. "The risk of giving statins at a lower age is less than the benefit you're going to get out of it."

Others disagree, with many pointing out that because the drugs have only been around since the mid-1980s, no one is sure of the long-term effects they may have on the children to whom they are given.

Labels: cholesterol, medications, pediatricians