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Puppy fat, though seems cute, may be dangerous, a latest study has found. According to the study, two out of three severely obese children are at the risk of heart disease.

For the study, the researchers conducted the examined the data of 500 children in Netherlands between the year 2005 and 2007. Of them, 307 were classified as severely obese.

Apparently, over half of the severely obese children were boys and seemed to be more severely obese at the younger end of the age spectrum, whereas the opposite was true for girls.

The study found that two of every three children had at least one heart disease risk factor by age 12, while half of them had high blood pressure and half had high levels of low density 'bad' cholesterol. One in seven children were found to be having high fasting blood glucose and less than a percent already had type 2 diabetes.

Among all the children studied, only one child's obesity was due to medical reasons while all other children were obese due to lifestyle factors.

The study further revealed that one in three severely obese children came from a single parent family.

"The prevalence of impaired fasting glucose in [these children] is worrying, considering the increasing prevalence worldwide of type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents. Likewise, the high prevalence of hypertension and abnormal lipids may lead to cardiovascular disease in young adulthood," Dr Joana Kist-van Holthe, Department of Public and Occupational Health, at the University Medical Centre, Amsterdam was quoted as saying by Telegraph.

The study was published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood.