Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
New data suggests a stark rise in the prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes in children. The study, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), found a 35 percent increase in Type 2 Diabetes between 2001 and 2009 amongst youth ages 10-19*. The authors go on to project that without significant changes in the factors that underlie the development of the disease, the number of adolescents with Type 2 Diabetes is likely to increase fourfold by 2050. While this report is disconcerting, sadly it is not surprising.
Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition that impacts how the body metabolizes sugar. Individuals with the disease either resist the effect of insulin (a hormone that controls the amount of sugar in cells) or do not produce enough insulin to sustain a normal blood sugar. While there may be a genetic component involved, lifestyle risk factors -- mainly diet, physical activity, and subsequent body mass index (BMI) -- are significant determinants to the onset of Type 2 diabetes. Historically, the disease only manifested after years of compounding poor health behaviors, hence its former name "Adult Onset Diabetes." Unfortunately, the JAMA study confirms that today's youth are also susceptible.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-stulberg/type-2-diabetes_b_5327934.html
Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition that impacts how the body metabolizes sugar. Individuals with the disease either resist the effect of insulin (a hormone that controls the amount of sugar in cells) or do not produce enough insulin to sustain a normal blood sugar. While there may be a genetic component involved, lifestyle risk factors -- mainly diet, physical activity, and subsequent body mass index (BMI) -- are significant determinants to the onset of Type 2 diabetes. Historically, the disease only manifested after years of compounding poor health behaviors, hence its former name "Adult Onset Diabetes." Unfortunately, the JAMA study confirms that today's youth are also susceptible.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-stulberg/type-2-diabetes_b_5327934.html