While millions of adults in the US have type 2 diabetes, there’s a rising number of kids who are also being diagnosed with this chronic and life-altering disease.
As of right now, the number of kids under the age of 20 with type 2 diabetes isn’t all that large — about 48,000. The CDC predicts, however, that left unchecked, these diabetes rates could increase by up to 700% by 2060.
Since November is National Diabetes Month in the US, Dr. Rachel McConnell and Dr. Sharon Lucas discuss diabetes in children. At Neighborhood Pediatrics, we focus on prevention and health management, so let’s tackle childhood type 2 diabetes with that in mind.
The reason why the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes is primarily in adults is that it's a progressive condition that develops over time. With type 2 diabetes, you get to a point where the levels of glucose in your blood are too high, thanks to one or both of the following:
Insulin is a hormone your pancreas produces that’s tasked with carting off glucose in your blood to your cells. When insulin resistance develops and your natural production of the hormone isn’t able to overcome this resistance, type 2 diabetes can take hold. As a result, dangerously high levels of blood sugar can occur.
It’s usually not until the adolescent years that this happens in kids. Kids who are younger and have diabetes are most often born with type 1 diabetes.
There are certain factors for kids that can place them more at risk for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. We’re adding prediabetes to our discussion because the stage gets set for this precursor to type 2 diabetes during childhood. In short, prediabetes is a condition in which your child’s blood sugar levels are high, but not high enough to qualify as type 2 diabetes.
In either case, the leading culprit behind prediabetes and type 2 diabetes in kids is excess weight. In the US, about 1 in 6 kids between the ages of 2 and 19 are overweight, and 1 in 5 kids in the same age range tip the scales into obesity.
Tied to the excess weight is poor nutrition among kids. Diets that favor processed and junk foods over healthier foods can not only lead to excess weight, but also health issues like type 2 diabetes.
Rounding out the top 3 risk factors for childhood type 2 diabetes is lack of exercise. The simple reality is that exercise helps your body use glucose well.
Now let’s go in a more productive direction and discuss ways to keep your child from developing type 2 diabetes or to help them manage an existing diagnosis.
As you might imagine, when reading about the risk factors, this is where we start. Outside of insulin therapies, which we use for existing diabetes, the best ways to prevent type 2 diabetes or to manage the condition are through daily exercise — about an hour a day — and healthier eating habits.
We’re happy to sit down with you to create a better meal plan through our nutrition services. We also discuss ways your child can become more active. By focusing your efforts on these two fronts, the third risk factor will take care of itself — weight loss.
Schedule an appointment to set your child on a healthier path to avoid or better manage type 2 diabetes. Call our Shenandoah, Texas, office at 832-843-2049 or use our online booking feature today.
