Diabetes and prediabetes have more than doubled among teenagers in the United States, an alarming trend that has health experts urging parents to pay more attention to their adolescents’ eating and exercise habits.
Among adolescents ages 12-19 in the United States, 23 percent now have diabetes or prediabetes, up nine percent from a decade ago, according to a recent study published in the journal Pediatrics.
People with prediabetes have blood glucose levels that are higher than normal, but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. They could go on to develop diabetes or they could prevent it by lowering blood glucose levels with healthier diet and more physical activity.
In the study, researchers at the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) looked at risk factors for heart disease and stroke in adolescents, examining data on more than 3,300 adolescents participating in a national survey from 1999 to 2008.
The study has caught the attention of health providers researching obesity’s dangerous effects. “I think this is an eye opener,” Steven Mittelman, M.D., of the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Center for Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism, says of the study. “Parents really need to think about what their kids are eating and what their activity level is. Parents have to step up and help prevent these devastating diseases that last a lifetime.”
One of every three children with diabetes now has type 2 (which used to be called “adult-onset diabetes,” but is now far too common in children to merit that name), and Mittelman points out that the disease is not easily managed in kids. Adults with type 2 diabetes can improve their health with lifestyle changes and medications, but 50 percent of kids diagnosed with type 2 will end up on insulin within five years – and need it for the rest of their lives.
Here are his suggestions for parents looking to improve their kids’ health:
Pay attention during checkups. Doctors should be checking children’s height, weight and blood pressure at every visit, and taking the time to calculate Body Mass Index (BMI, a measure of height related to weight) for patients. Under some circumstances, they should also test kids’ cholesterol levels and test for diabetes.
Know your family history. Let your pediatrician know if your child’s parents or grandparents have high cholesterol, diabetes or heart disease. Find out what medications your child’s grandparents take, and share that information as well. “That helps us know what might run in the family,” Mittelman says.
Check out resources that get kids moving. Mittelman recommends the CDC childhood obesity page (cdc.gov/obesity/childhood), Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign (LetsMove.gov) and your local YMCA (YMCA.org) as great places to start.
Mittelman is quick to point out that heart disease and diabetes are just two of the many life-threatening conditions caused by obesity. He specializes in studying the connections between obesity and cancer (and says that 20 percent of cancers in the United States are now caused by obesity).
Studies show that many kids carry their weight problems into adulthood, but Mittelman and other experts consider adolescence a key window for change. And much of that change is up to moms and dads. “Parents do have the power,” he says.
Christina Elston is a senior editor and health writer for Dominion Parenting Media. Read Health-e, her family health blog, at www.parenthood.com/healthe.php.
