Addressing Childhood Obesity for Type 2 Diabetes Prevention: Challenges and Opportunities

Have you ever wondered how we can treat diabetes?

You may currently be confused since humans haven’t found a cure for the chronic illness yet. You, along with billions of other people, must also know that diabetes, especially type 2 diabetes, is a world-wide problem that takes the lives of millions every year. You may be asking how we can tackle such a huge problem? It’s quite simple. We can reduce the number of diabetics in the world by eliminating the underlying factors of it in the early stages of children' s childhoods. 

In the past, diabetes in adolescents used to be an extremely rare case. But fast forward to the present, over 422 million people globally are diagnosed with diabetes, with around 38.4 Americans under the age of 20 living with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. This is roughly 11.6% of the entire U.S. population. The scarier fact is that type 2 diabetes is becoming more common. The incidence of type 2 diabetes is continually increasing, ranging from 7.5% ~ 12.5%, the lowest percentage being from the non-Hispanic White Americans, with the highest being Hispanic Americans. It is estimated for there to be at least 1.3 billion diabetes in the world by 2050.

However, the entire problem with having diabetes may not always be having the chronic illness itself. Diabetes is linked to many other conditions and illnesses, such as cardiovascular disease, nerve damage, dementia, and more. The younger you are when you are diagnosed, the higher your chances to get severe health complications like heart disease, vision loss, and amputations. These are all heavy burdens that can impact you for the rest of your life. 

But don’t worry, not all hope is lost. If we can raise awareness about the underlying factors of diabetes to children when they are young, they will have a higher likelihood to not become diagnosed with it. 

So, what are some of the underlying factors of type 2 diabetes? One major factor is obesity. Basically, what causes type 2 diabetes is insulin-resistance, where your body has trouble responding to insulin, a type of hormone produced in the pancreas which is responsible for moving the glucose, or blood sugar in your body to cells to be used as energy. When your body builds resistance to insulin, your body will produce more until it physically cannot create enough insulin for your body. At this stage, your blood sugar levels rise, since your glucose is not being moved into the cells, and is floating around in your bloodstream. Insulin-resistance is in short a pre pre stage of type 2 diabetes. The way fat plays a role in your body is that it releases pro-inflammatory chemicals which can disrupt the function of insulin-responsive cells, making the body less sensitive to insulin. In short, insulin resistance. Being obese, or having an excess amount of body fat, can higher your chances of becoming insulin-resistant. 

Not only that, but obesity also ties to other chronic diseases like hypertension and high cholesterol. Kids with obesity also often face bullying, low self-esteem, and are more likely to become obese when in adulthood. Currently, more than a billion people worldwide are living with obesity; this is one in eight people. Obesity rates have been steadily increasing over the last 3 decades, more than tripling since 1975. 

This is precisely why obesity must be one of the factors we target for diabetes in young children. If we keep obesity rates in adolescents low, there is a much higher chance for the number of diabetics in the world to drop significantly. 

You might be wondering how we can lower the obesity rates in children. This all stems from eating habits. According to dietitians and doctors, there is a 70/30, 80/20 body ratio for diet and exercise. This means that 70~80% of your weight management should come from your diet while the remaining be from your exercise. From infancy, it is vital to establish healthy eating habits. Managing and promoting healthy habits during childhood can help set the child up for a healthier future. 

Tackling obesity and diabetes doesn’t have to be an overwhelming process. Small, consistent healthy changes and habits made in childhood can make all the world difference for one’s future. Let’s start with encouraging more playtime and making healthier food decisions. It’s about creating that balanced lifestyle which sticks to one throughout their entire lifetime. 

Source: NIH

Blog Writer: Victoria Maeng