As obesity rates in children have climbed, so has the incidence of Type 2 diabetes, and a new study adds another worry - the disease progresses more rapidly in children than in adults and is harder to treat.
One of the biggest threats to our children’s health may be underestimated. Obesity and the form of diabetes linked to it are setting kids up for runaway medical problems.
“An obese child is potentially more at risk for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, Type 2 diabetes, joint related problems, liver disease, gall bladder disease. That’s a big list,” says Lee Memorial Health System pediatrician Dr. Nancy Witham.
With upwards of 30 percent of Florida’s kids weighing in as obese, pediatricians are intervening.
“The first thing we would do is look at where the child is on a growth chart, take a good family history and find if there’s some of the things like the diabetes, high blood pressure, already present in the family which would put the child at increase risk,” says Dr. Witham.
New studies suggest diabetes in children is harder to treat and it progresses more quickly, meaning they get sicker quicker.
“Adults who are overweight may take 15 years before they develop diabetes. And in children that can be as short as a couple of years,” says Lee Memorial Health System pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Asjad Khan.
Doctors believe the speed and severity may be linked to hormones.
“Such as growth hormone and testosterone, estrogen. They are much higher in children in puberty. So these excess hormones, plus the overweight together, cause even more insulin resistance,” says Dr. Khan.
In theory, people who develop diabetes as children may suffer complications much earlier in life than previous generations who became diabetic as adults. Type 2 diabetes is typically avoidable by improving diet and exercise.
“It’s all about choices and making the appropriate choices,” says Dr. Witham.
The best advice: eliminate the risk by preventing the problem.