Epidemic of Children are Getting Adult Diabetes

 

Type 2 diabetes, which was once called adult-onset diabetes because it rarely occurred before middle age, is affecting more and more children, some as young

as six years.

 

Exact numbers are still being gathered, but many doctors say there is an epidemic of type 2 diabetes in youth. At the pediatric unit in one diabetes center,

staff said they have seen a 10-fold rise in childhood Type 2 diabetes in the past decade. Complications from the illness include kidney failure, blindness,

heart attacks and amputations.

 

Until recently, almost all diabetes in children was type 1, previously known as juvenile diabetes. Type 1 is caused by an immune system attack on insulin-making

cells in the pancreas. Patients are then not able to make insulin, so they cannot convert sugar to energy.

 

In type 2 diabetes, which typically occurs beyond age 50 or 60, the body can still make insulin, just not enough.

 

Most children with type 2 diabetes are overweight. Doctors blame the increasing diabetes trend on unhealthy diets and inactivity. They also point out that

many kids down several 20-ounce sodas sold in school vending machines each day, which can easily add 1,000 calories daily, all from sugar.

 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 15 percent of all U.S. children and teenagers, and close to 25 percent of black and Hispanic

youth, are overweight.

 

Doctors note that kids with diabetes tend to be especially large for their age. Most also have a skin condition called acanthosis nigricans, dark patches

around the neck and other skin folds, which is a sign of insulin resistance.

 

Insulin resistance in girls can lead to hormonal upset that results in facial hair, acne and ovarian cysts.

 

Further, many youths who do not yet have diabetes are at high-risk for developing the condition. According to doctors’ estimates, for every child with type

2 diabetes, four or five others have metabolic syndrome, or syndrome X, which put that at high risk. Metabolic syndrome is a combination of obesity, insulin

resistance, bad cholesterol counts, high triglycerides and high blood pressure.

 

Complications from type 2 diabetes in adults can often be reduced or prevented with medicines, weight loss and exercise. However, doctors are uncertain

how children who start the disease in childhood rather than their 50s will fare. Many doctors predict that complications will emerge in early adulthood.

 

According to one study of 51 people with type 2 diabetes that had been diagnosed in childhood, the predictions are on target. Of the participants, who were

mostly in their 20s and 30s, two had died on kidney dialysis, three others were on kidney dialysis, one had had a toe amputated and another had gone blind.

 

The CDC is planning to determine just how many young Americans have diabetes. Estimates start at 6,000, with 800 more to be diagnosed annually, 30 percent

of them type 2.

 

The diabetes association recommends that children be tested for type 2 diabetes if they are overweight and have two other risk factors, such as a parent

with the disease or signs of insulin resistance.

 

Some experts believe that refocusing the exercise and eating habits of the entire society is the only way to stop the epidemic, while others think an approach

targeting overweight youngsters would be sufficient.