Diabetes is on the Rise in Childhood and Adolescence

Diabetes is on the Rise in Childhood and Adolescence

When kids come up against that common eat right and exercise refrain, they may be all too apt to brush health concerns aside as something only adults have to consider. Heart issues, kidney problems, and especially type 2 diabetes — those words have an “adults only” connotation.

However, the potential to develop type 2 diabetes in adulthood or even earlier comes with a clear link to overweight and obesity at young ages. With it comes an elevated risk for associated health complications, too. While research has indicated some alarming trends, there are also promising findings that hint at the opportunity for individuals to make sustainable change.

Sustainable change isn’t about simple calorie counting — where those calories come from can have just as big an impact on overall health. Families can have fun experimenting with recipes and food choices to give kids the power to view nutrition as a holistic part of their everyday routine.

Prediabetes and Type 2 Diabetes Cases on the Rise

Type 2 diabetes, a disease once known as adult-onset diabetes, has started to impact young people more and more. Recent research paints an increasingly unsettling picture.

A 2019 study published in JAMA Pediatrics found nearly 1 in 5 adolescents are already living with prediabetes, with the percentage of kids between the ages of 12 and 18 with prediabetes higher in those with obesity. Prediabetes, a health condition characterized by higher-than-normal blood sugar levels, can lead to type 2 diabetes and may offer an early window into what’s to come.

But it’s not just prediabetes acting as a glimpse of a problematic but distant future. Researchers are also seeing a shift in type 2 diabetes prevalence in youths. A CDC report from 2020, for example, found the rate of new type 2 diabetes cases for young people under 20 years old in the United States increasing 4.8% per year.

Obesity and Overweight As Diabetes Risk Factors

Though not the only factors, obesity and overweight are helping to spur the rise in type 2 diabetes among children and adolescents. A 2005 review in the journal Pediatrics examined the ongoing trend. The review noted that having overweight or obesity actually serves as the biggest risk factor for youth to develop type 2 diabetes, highlighting weight loss and prevention of weight gain as strategies to combat eventual disease development.

Indeed, as the number of overweight and obese children has increased, so too has the number of type 2 diabetes cases in younger people. Early diabetes development means affected young people may start experiencing complications associated with diabetes at an earlier age as well.

What Happens When Young People Develop Type 2 Diabetes?


Younger diabetes diagnosis and the potential for complications at an earlier age speak to the heart of the looming public health problem.

An earlier type 2 diabetes diagnosis goes hand in hand with greater risk. Earlier development means longer exposure to the disease, and young people who develop type 2 diabetes may need treatments like insulin earlier in life. Evidence also exists hinting at early-onset type 2 diabetes as a more aggressive form of the disease.

Children and adolescents with type 2 diabetes face health issues similar to their adult counterparts, but may experience these complications starting at an earlier age, according to the review in Pediatrics. Cardiovascular complications, kidney issues, health problems that threaten the limbs — the list goes on. Even if the diabetes diagnosis doesn’t come during childhood or adolescence, kids who are overweight or obese are still at a higher risk to develop the disease eventually.

Research Highlights Promising Opportunities for Change

The news isn’t all bad, though. Consider a study by Bjerregaard et al published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2018.

Acknowledging that children who have overweight are at an increased risk for type 2 diabetes in adulthood, the study looked at Danish men who had their weights and heights measured at 7 and 13 years old and then again in early adulthood, defined in the study as between the ages of 17 and 26. The researchers sought to determine if children who were overweight at a young age would continue to have an increased risk of developing adult type 2 diabetes if they no longer were overweight at puberty or later.

The study uncovered promising statistics. Men who maintained a normal weight in early adulthood after losing weight between 7 and 13 years old had a risk of type 2 diabetes similar to men who had normal weight at all ages. While men who lost weight between 13 years old and early adulthood had a higher diabetes risk than men who had never been overweight, the risk was still lower than in men who were overweight at all ages included in the study.

Reversing the Trend Starts At Home

Focusing on being overweight in puberty as an important factor ultimately increasing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life, the New England Journal of Medicine study indicates just how important learning healthy habits at a young age can be.

Family factors — such as food available at home and food preferences of family members — can influence what kids eat, and these factors have been associated with rising obesity cases. On the flip side, if kids learn about healthy eating, positive nutritional choices, and exercising at home, those lessons can carry over into choices kids make beyond the walls of their home.

Being overweight or obese aren’t the only risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes, and a holistic, empowering approach to any weight loss recommendations for kids is certainly a must. Still, the clear link means it’s something kids and the adults in their lives should pay attention to. Type 2 diabetes comes with the potential for complications in childhood and beyond — and the risks only increase with earlier disease onset. Yes, the stakes are high, but research indicates the lasting, positive impact that changes to nutrition and activity can have

Weight Management, Family Style

Weight Management, Family Style

Weight management is a key component of a healthy lifestyle although keeping one’s weight on track is often a frustrating and perplexing task. To get the whole family involved in the weight management effort may seem almost impossible.
Simply identifying a younger member of the family as overweight can be a challenge.

A 2015 study from the U.K. found that 31% of parents underestimated their child’s weight status. For a child who is “very overweight” per government guidelines there was an 80% chance the parent would classify the child as healthy weight. Teens themselves are not very good at identifying themselves as overweight as 80% of overweight teenaged boys and 71% of overweight teenaged girls perceived themselves as normal weight. Recognizing that a child is overweight is crucial to preventing the progression to adult obesity. 72% of overweight kindergartners were obese by the time they reached 8th grade. (more…)

Survey Reveals 84% Feel Doctors in US Overly Influenced by Pharmaceutical Industry

Survey Reveals 84% Feel Doctors in US Overly Influenced by Pharmaceutical Industry

survey

By Gary Pepper, M.D.

A survey by metabolism.com reveals that a vast majority of the public believe doctors in the US are overly influenced in their decisions by the pharmaceutical industry.  500 visitors to the website participated in the survey.  419 (84%) answered yes to the question, “Do you feel that US doctors’ decisions are overly influenced by pharmaceutical industry money?”  56 (11%) were not sure, and only 20 (4%) voted no to this question. (more…)

New Diabetes Medications Give Early Indication of Danger

warning signby Gary Pepper, M.D.
Chances are, if you have diabetes you have heard about a new class of drugs to treat high blood sugar (glucose). The first of these new medications to gain FDA approval in the U.S., in 2013, is Invokana manufactured and promoted by Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Johnson & Johnson. In the last year and a half the number of these drugs known as SGLT2 inhibitors, has multiplied faster than tribbles to include Farxiga, Xigduo, Jardiance and Invokamet. Prescriptions for these medications are also showing explosive growth, increasing 300% since January 2014. A recent forecast by Express Scripts calls for this one class of drugs to be responsible for about a 20% increase in the yearly cost of prescriptions per all members per year for the next 3 years . The explanation behind the eager adoption and dissemination of this brand new class of medications may eventually serve as a tragic lesson for diabetic patients and for the medical community in general.
(more…)

How the Sunshine Act Will Save You Money

By Gary Pepper, M.D.

Offering Promotional Money

Have you noticed that medication costs are skyrocketing? Even if you don’t take medication these higher costs are passed along to you in your health insurance premiums. The recently enacted Sunshine Act will combat these economic forces but in ways you may not realize. The legislation requires pharmaceutical companies to report all payments made to doctors. Physicians receiving substantial amounts of money from these companies include “thought leaders” who are sponsored by the drug companies to lecture the nation’s doctors on newly approved medications. (more…)