By ANGELA GREGORY
Elvis Presley loved his fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches so much he could scoff up to 15 at a time.
But being a tiny baby had put him at risk of the heart failure that caused his sudden death at just 42 years, well before he developed
a hearty appetite for fatty foods.
In a paper prepared for New Zealand and Australian cardiologists, British researcher Professor George Davey-Smith said the King of Rock'n'Roll had been a prime candidate for heart problems since he was in the womb.
Professor Davey-Smith, the head of the epidemiology division at Bristol University, said Elvis had a very low birthweight, which recent research indicated increased the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Professor Davey-Smith said it was also known that people who had low birthweight, low childhood weight, and then became obese in later life were at a substantially greater risk again.
Born in Mississippi, Elvis was one of identical twin boys but only he survived birth.
Raised as a God-fearing, non-drinking, non-smoking young man, he went on to revolutionise American popular music and make a fortune which financed a lavish lifestyle.
But in later years his fluctuating weight and ill-health at times reduced the former heart-throb to a grotesque figure.
He died in 1977 after being found unconscious in a bathroom at his mansion, Graceland.
An autopsy showed he died of cardiac arrhythmia - a severely irregular heart beat.
The New Zealand Heart Foundation says big eaters cannot rely on a healthy birthweight to protect them from heart problems.
Overweight people have a greater chance of dying early, developing high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart disease.
The foundation recommends a balanced diet and preparing meals with little or no added fat, salt and sugar.
nzherald.co.nz/health
