As American children get fatter and do less and less exercise the incidence of adolescent prediabetes is growing at an alarming rate, according to a study published in the journal Pediatrics.
Already there are two million children (aged 12-19) in the USA with prediabetes. Or to put it another way, one in 14 children in the USA has prediabetes. A child with prediabetes is at very high risk of going on to develop full diabetes as well as having serious heart problems.
If you have prediabetes your glucose levels are higher than they should be. You are standing just before the threshold of diabetes type 2.
There are two types of diabetes – type 1 and type 2. If you put on a lot of weight and do no exercise, you raise your risk of developing type 2. Type 1 diabetes is when your beta cells (insulin producing cells in the pancreas) cease to exist. Type 1 diabetes is not related to lifestyle, type 2 often is.
The good news for these children with prediabetes is that they can be helped. With good nutrition and a program of physical activity they would quickly move away from prediabetes and all the dangers they would have to face later in life.
I have a friend, a doctor, whose 14-year-old son was obese. He had elevated glucose levels. He had prediabetes. He bought him a treadmill and placed it in the living room (the boy was too shy to go for walks outside). He started on a daily 30 minute slow walk in the evening. The parents arranged with their son that in order to be able to watch TV he would have to do those 30 minutes. This went on for three weeks. Then the walking time was raised to 45 minutes, then three weeks later one hour. This was two years ago. The boy got fitter, not much thinner at first, but fitter. He gradually raised the speed on the treadmill himself over a period of one year. After 12 months he had lost a great deal of weight. Today, two years later, he runs outdoors, four times a week – about two miles each run. He went down from 110 kilos to 76 kilos. He still eats a lot, he says – but the running helps him keep the weight down. It also keeps him fit.
If you want to encourage your child to do exercise and he/she is obese/overweight, it is a good idea to get some expert help. Go and see a doctor to make sure the child is up to it. Many clinics have nutritional and exercise programs.
Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today