Tech | May 21, 2012 | 40 comments

Diabetes on the rise among teenagers

source: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/diabetes-on-the-rise-among-teenagers/

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JanforGore
Nearly one in four American adolescents may be on the verge of developing Type 2 diabetes or could already be diabetic, representing a sharp increase in the disease’s prevalence among children ages 12 to 19 since a decade ago, when it was estimated that fewer than one in 10 were at risk for or had diabetes, according to a new study.

This worsening of the problem is worrying in light of recently published findings that the disease progresses more rapidly in children than in adults and is harder to treat, experts said.

The study, published online on Monday in the journal Pediatrics, analyzes data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which has a nationally representative sample. While it confirmed that teenage obesity and overweight rates had leveled off in recent years and that teenage rates of high blood pressure and high cholesterol had not changed greatly, it found that the percentage of teenagers testing positive for diabetes and prediabetes had nearly tripled to 23 percent in 2007-8 from 9 percent in 1999-2000.

Researchers said the data should be interpreted with caution because the prediabetes and diabetes status of the adolescents was based on a single test of each participant’s fasting blood glucose level, which could be unreliable in children if they had not fasted for at least 8 hours before taking the test. In addition, children this age are going through puberty, a process that induces insulin resistance.

“Nationwide, this is the best sampling of youth to inform us about cardiovascular risk factors,” said Dr. Lori Laffel of the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, who was not involved in the study. But she said that the figure of nearly one in four teens having diabetes or prediabetes was high and that the findings needed to be replicated by other researchers in order to support them.

Still, experts and doctors who treat young diabetics said the trend over the past decade was troubling. They were not entirely able to explain why diabetes and prediabetes rates had continued to rise while obesity held steady, but they said it may have taken time for the disease to “catch up” with teenagers who were overweight or sedentary as children.

Other factors may also play a role, including the increasing use of computer and mobile devices that has made youngsters more inactive and the growth of minority ethnic and racial groups who have higher rates of diagnosed diabetes than whites.

The study did not differentiate between adolescents who had diabetes and those with prediabetes, but most are likely to be prediabetic, experts said. That means blood glucose levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to diagnose diabetes.

Many people with prediabetes go on to develop Type 2 diabetes, but they can prevent that from happening with modest weight loss and exercise. The disease, once called adult-onset diabetes because it was so rare in children, if not managed properly causes complications including vision problems, heart disease, nerve damage and kidney failure.

The new study, which included 3,383 participants in different studies over the decade, found that even teenagers of normal weight had risk factors for heart disease, including prediabetes.

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40 comments // Diabetes on the rise among teenagers

  • 1Run
  • treewolf39
    • +1
      treewolf39  
    • 1Run:

      I hope to be able to run again someday. I used to go anywhere on mountains now every step takes total awareness. I will walk the mountains again trails or not. Great video and share of real life challenges!

    • 12 months ago
  • artemis6
  • treewolf39
  • artemis6
  • corndog67
    • 0
      corndog67  

    • My neighborhood has many kids, 12 or less, that are little tubs of shit. 200-300 lbs, 4 foot nothing. Acting like little gangsters. Maybe it's nature's way of culling the herd.

    • 12 months ago
  • treewolf39
    • +1
      treewolf39  
    • corndog67:

      Learned behavior due to lack of education. Sounds more like you are referring to their parents and choices made by the really poor conditions caused mostly by the pursuit of riches by our government and fake food corporations.

    • 12 months ago
  • hoosierdaddy
    • +1
      hoosierdaddy  

    • I have diabetes. And my primary client is in the diabetes care industry. My advice to anyone looking to invest their money is to put it in any stock that will, over time, profit from the increase in the number of people with diabetes. You cannot lose. Our food industry and the Congressmen who serve them will make sure of it.

    • 12 months ago
  • mgmorris1
    • +2
      mgmorris1  

    • It's sugar and grains that are the problem! The low carb people were right all along. Check out the books "Primal Blueprint" and "Protein Power" to learn to give your body what it will thrive on.

    • 12 months ago
  • Des_Akkari
    • +2
      Des_Akkari  

    • maybe just maybe we can have a national health system....if it were free for everyone and we had to keep the budget under control you would have to regulate food a whole lot better. Unfortunately, the children are made this way by their parents who should KNOW better then to let their kids get that overweight, Type 1 people excluded.

      I have to say that this like all other vices are that person's choice.....but since I do believe in ending the drug war....these people have to take responsibility for themselves. They don't want to pay for a drug addict who costs the health system either..... I think people should be licensed for their vices....if you cannot control yourself then you should have to pay for your own health insurance. If I could drink, smoke, and eat whatever I want....I would be fine with paying for my own health insurance.

      When fizzy drinks are taxed heavy like cigarettes then you'll get somewhere.

    • 12 months ago
  • treewolf39
  • 1Run
  • 1Run
    • +4
      1Run  

    • I have had type 1 diabetes for 35 years. I'm currently on day 3 of running across the country to raise awareness about the importance of fitness. Since I've been exercising, I'm down to a 1/4 of the insulin I once injected. You can follow my progress on FaceBook and Twitter. The twitter page is @1RunAmerica. If you know someone with diabetes please share this with them. Check out my website. If I'm passing through your town, I'd love to meet and have a conversation with you.

    • 12 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • Paratus
  • treewolf39
  • Varex_Sythe
  • MSII
    • +3
      MSII  
    • Paratus:

      Unfortunately the "value added" food (calling what's found in american grocery stores food is a joke unto itself) is all pumped full of fat/salt/"sugar" (not real sugar so much as high fructose corn syrup). Take a look at the labels, they pump the poison into everything. I'm surprised all the water isn't "value added" with the poison. This is what corporate farming gets you. What corporate control of the so-called food.

    • 12 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • +4
      JanforGore  
    • Paratus:

      "The new study, which included 3,383 participants in different studies over the decade, found that even teenagers of normal weight had risk factors for heart disease, including prediabetes".

      Though I wholeheartedly agree with everything you've stated here, the results being shown which find a predisposition for teenagers of normal weight to prediabetes is concerning. Pesticides are sprayed on fruits and vegetables in huge numbers and it's now in the seeds themselves, so you even have to be careful even if you don't eat the processed junk. Organic is the best way to go to at least cut down on them and if you don't or can't, washing produce very well is a must too.

    • 12 months ago
  • Paratus
    • +1
      Paratus  
    • MSII:

      We have been "label readers" for 25 years. Cuts down on our diet somewhat but what we will not eat probably should not be eaten anyhow. If it has 10 syllables it probably should not hit the stomach.

    • 12 months ago
  • Paratus
  • artemis6
  • Tayllerand
    • +1
      Tayllerand  

    • Vaccines are causing all these crazy diseases, cancer,diabetes, aids and autism. Vaccines are mix with the DNA of other animals like monkeys.....HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOO. How do you think your immune system it's going to react to this DNA inside your body ? that's right, is going to attack your whole body . Think and don't believe all the BS they are telling you on TV.

      The End.

    • 12 months ago
  • treewolf39
  • PressCore
    • +6
      PressCore  

    • I blogged a link to a story published by City Rag today on the leading
      causes of cardio vascular disease. Smoking cigarettes is the #1 cause
      of CVD amongst all groups of people now. But due to the rising public
      epidemic of obesity in the Western world, they estimate that obesity
      will soon replace smoking as the # 1 cause of heart disease. The best
      ways to avoid obesity are to maintain a reverse osmosis water filter to
      eliminate the fluoride they dump into the water supply as toxic waste.
      It DOESN'T prevent tooth decay. That's a myth. Fluoride is a hormone
      disrupter which imbalances thyroid hormone and causes overweight
      in a diet deficient in iodine minerals. Also avoid BPA they use to package
      processed foods with. It's in everything from plastic can liners to plastic
      bottles. That's an endocine disrupter too. And if you don't shop wisely
      to read the ingredients in processed food, there's a 70% chance you'll
      buy most things dumped with high fructose corn syrup. That unnatural
      concentration of sugar will cause obesity in a heartbeat. Despite the
      propaganda, HFCS also disrupts the hormone leptin which causes you
      to feel full. So people are unnaturaly manipulated to overeat. And over
      drink. They dump HFCS in soda too. Together with the phosphoric acid
      they use to make unfermented soda with, the Phosphoric acid leeches
      calcium out of teeth & bones making them porous, brittle, easy to break.
      Yum, huh ?

    • 12 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • +5
      JanforGore  
    • PressCore:

      If you connect the dots to the stories, 90% of corn seeds are doused with neonicontinoids, about 80% are genetically modified and therefore sprayed with Glyphosate at least until 2-4 D comes out, and the majority of processed food is made with corn. I also know exercise and movement play a role in this, but the food we eat in this country is so toxic and unhealthy for many, many who cannot afford anything else that it is no wonder we are seeing this happening. This is a health crisis that won't be solved with just a healthcare plan that continues the same status quo in bowing down to the industrial ag and pesticide industries. Which is exactly what Obama and other world leaders just did this past week.

    • 12 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • Incredulous
  • artemis6
    • +3
      artemis6  
    • JanforGore:

      VERY true .... It DOES matter where your food comes from and how it was grown .. you really ARE what you eat . This sorry excuse for food cannot build health . Each meal is an investment in your future quality of life . If your body is the temple of your soul ... do not sully it or insult it with non foods poison . It is disrespectful of you and the mother that sacrificed to bring you into the world , so that you would be strong . damaging your DNA insults and endangers your future children as well . Anyway , THAT is what i think . It is better to eat smaller meals or skip them altogether than eat slow death poison .

    • 12 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • treewolf39
    • +1
      treewolf39  
    • Gravity_Man:

      I am dealing with doctors who seem to like to use pain for their studies, jerks! I have had to start becoming one due to the scientific deceit in studying brain injuries. The worst is having so long in my life thinking most all doctors were really decent people.

    • 12 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • treewolf39
    • +1
      treewolf39  
    • Gravity_Man:

      I am now having the hearing experience you speak of. I have recovered in 6 months farther than most who have been recovering for 5 years. I learned a lot from Jesus but have 0 use of any religion but not in any way questioning your beliefs. One of these days I want to sit in with Jesus, Mohamed, and Buddha smoking a joint and discussing the needs of life in a library den coffee shop atmosphere. I think we are very alike!

    • 12 months ago
  • Incredulous
  • JanforGore
  • treewolf39
    • +3
      treewolf39  
    • Incredulous:

      My niece at 4 just came down with type one. Almost died, so scary. My sister is studying this like mad and our constant search for truth will bring us closer to a solution. If she maintains a stable diet she has a chance to live longer than the average for healthy people and longer than type 2. And from what I think I am starting to understand there is a type three.

    • 12 months ago
  • MSII
  • JanforGore
  • MSII
    • +3
      MSII  
    • JanforGore:

      I'd say it's as simple as the horrible excuse for "food" americans eat. The garbage at the grocery stores is a disgrace, the "value added" food is poison. What we get with corporate farming, and corporate control of food.

    • 12 months ago
  • artemis6
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