Twenty five percent of obese children are already glucose intolerant and at high risk for developing diabetes, according to a Yale University study published in the March 14, 2002 New England Journal of Medicine. Children as young as age 4 were included in the study.
There is currently an epidemic of Type 2,or adult onset, diabetes among young children and adolescents. This used to be thought of as a disease of the middle aged and elderly.
Children who develop Type 2 diabetes await a lifetime of struggling against the medical complications of diabetes. While others enjoy their youth in their 20’s and 30’s, these will already face the possibility of poor circulation, ulcers of the feet, atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease, kidney problems, eye problems, and the slow deadening of some of their nerves.
Treating obesity in children is well worth the effort.
Alan Greene
I agree, Simone! As many as 40,000 kids in the US now have type 2 diabetes. There were about ZERO when I started as a pediatrician. But there’s a silver lining in this tragedy — it suggests that things do not need to stay the way they are. It’s not inevitable. We can change the way kids eat and move, and expect to see significant changes in their health.
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