By: Jennifer Jope for Wounds1 Childhood obesity carries many known health risks such as heart disease and high blood pressure, but according to a new study, obese children are even more at risk for another serious disease: Diabetes.
| Take Action |
Protect Your Skin
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends the following safety tips for protecting the skin against ultra-violet light that causes skin cancer:
When in the sun, seek shade
Use sunscreen
Avoid tanning beds
For further information on tanning beds see the Skin Cancer Foundation at www.skincancer.org
|
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan Health System, found that obese children between the ages of six and 11, and between 12 and 17, face a higher risk of developing diabetes.According to Dr. Joyce Lee, lead author of the study and who works with the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and CHEAR Unit at U-M, “Among school-aged children, obese children have a greater than twofold chance of having diabetes, compared with children of normal weight.”
According to the National Diabetes Education Program, diabetes is a chronic disease in which the body does not make or properly use insulin – a hormone that is needed to convert glucose and other food into energy. Because people with diabetes lack insulin or fail to respond to insulin’s effects, they have high blood glucose levels. Ultimately, the glucose that a diabetic’s body is unable to convert builds up in the bloodstream and is excreted through urine causing the body to lose its main source of fuel.
Although doctors have already linked obesity with diabetes, this study is the most recent national study to estimate the prevalence of children with diabetes. The findings indicated that more than 229,000 children currently suffer from the disease; One-third of those children are obese. Researchers found a prevalence of diabetes in older children, and it was more common among non-Hispanic white children than non-Hispanic black children or Hispanic children.
There are several types of diabetes, such as type 1 diabetes, previously known as juvenile diabetes and type 2 diabetes. In type 1, the body does not produce insulin. In type 2 diabetes, the body either doesn’t produce enough insulin or the body’s cells do not acknowledge the insulin produced. The American Diabetes Association notes that a child’s risk of developing type 2 is one in seven if his or her parent was diagnosed with diabetes before age 50 and one in 13 if a parent was diagnosed after 50 years old. The ADA states that type 2 diabetes typically runs in families partly because children learn unhealthy habits from their parents, such as a poor diet and lack of exercise. This particular study did not distinguish between the types of diabetes.
Because more children are obese, Lee said there is a concern that more children will develop diabetes before graduating high school. Treatment for obese and diabetic children could potentially put a strain on the healthcare system as well.
“The large number of children with diabetes in the U.S., and the potential for increasing numbers of children developing diabetes with the obesity epidemic, has serious implications for how these children will receive appropriate healthcare now and as they grow into adulthood,” Lee said. “These data create cause for concern, especially with a nationwide shortage of specialists who care for children with diabetes. From a clinical, public health and health resources perspective, we need to address childhood obesity head-on to help reduce the future burden of diabetes in the U.S.”
