Type 2 diabetes epidemic among U.S. kids worsens

(CBS News) There is a growing epidemic among American children, and now there is a new recommendation on how hundreds of thousands of those kids should be treated.

The problem is type 2 diabetes, and it is a problem that is confounding more doctors, families, and health care professionals every day.

CBS News correspondent Tony Guida reports type 2 diabetes was never seen in young people as recently as 15 years ago. Now it's occurring with alarming frequency. Doctors know that a major risk factor is obesity. Beyond that, they were mostly in the dark about this disease.

"Very little is known about the right way to both prevent it and treat it," said Dr. Robin Goland.

A new study out today in the New England Journal of Medicine finds that the standard treatment for type 2 diabetes in children is ineffective because the commonly prescribed drug Metaformin - effective in adults - has a high failure rate in children. Still, a combination of two diabetes drugs is far more effective in treating young people.

"Two drugs right off the bat, that's an important finding," Goland said.

It is important because type 2 diabetes appears to be more aggressive in young people between the ages of 10 and 17, putting them at great risk for life-threatening illnesses typically associated with seniors.

"We want them to grow up and have healthy lives and not be having heart attacks and strokes at terribly young ages," Goland said.

When it comes to preventing type 2 diabetes, more exercise and a healthier diet are key, but doctors know young peoples' habits are tough to change.

"The first surprise that we saw was, number one, how incredibly difficult it was to effect lifestyle change in these children, in these youth that have type 2 diabetes," said Dr. Kenneth Copeland.

It is extremely difficult as well to get children to take any medicine, let alone two drugs.

This spotlights the oldest truth in medicine: better to not get the disease than have to treat it.

[Deboheathern]

Yes, it's GENETICS, but as everything on this planet does we have evolved past the point of return within one generation. Our children don't have type 2 because they are fat, they are fat because they have type 2. After generations of eating chemically altered foods, additives, preservatives, sugars, on and on. Even fresh fruits and veggies' are nutritionally deficient, being grown in the same soil year after year with only manmade fertilizers on huge farms. And let's not even start with how our MEAT is raised or processed! It's to late for them. America you're being LIED to, WAKE UP!

[Deboheathern]

How many of us were bottle-feed on condensed milk and Karo syrup? Was your mother also? How about her mother? How healthy is the milk we have drank our whole lives? Have you seen the report on A1 and A2 milk? How many generations does it take to evolve into what we have become? If you are what you eat, are your children not what you ate? Why do we raise humans on chemically laden cows milk anyway? Breastmilk? YUCK, how disgusting, it's a yellow leakage that comes out of a human body. Breast are for men to play with and drewl over.

[EMCforCTD]

Did you know that your dentist may be the first to spot type 2 diabetes? It's true. http://curetoothdecay.com/blog/type-2-diabetes-epidemic-in-children-tooth-deca/

[cherilynne_59]

Mr. Pelley, I did not appreciate your comment at the end of the story proclaiming, "lose weight". There are also thin people who eat incorrectly and have type 2 diabetes. Preventing the disease means eating correctly and getting the right amount of physical activity, not just losing weight. It has been my personal battle to lose weight to prevent type 2 diabetes. It is not easy, but I work at it every day. I want to be healthy!

[Momma8it]

Have any of they Dr's making these statements ever been to the grocery store? The cost of fruits and veggies are outrageous!! An average family spending money on just fruits and veggies and lean meats will not get as much in their baskets as they will if they go for the hot dogs and chips and baked beans. It sucks, but it's reality! We need cheaper healthy foods in the grocery stores! That and more exercise will fix this problem! So many people are working 2 jobs to make a home run that they don't have time to cook either! There are so many factors contributing to all the health problems of america! They should make it harder for a Man to escape his responsibilities with taking care of his children, so Mom's left to raise kids alone wouldn't have to work 2 jobs to pay the bills. Get real and include all of the factors..not just lazy kids and junk food.

[hypnotoad72]

Thoughts from my corner of the cosmos:

1. Walking in a park the other day, a woman and young child were walking. The child had a kid meal comprised of fried chicken parts, french fries, and an apple. It did not want to eat the apple. Mommy had said "That's okay, I will eat the apple and you can have the chicken and fries."

*FACEPALM*

When I was a tot, I got scolded for not eating vegetables, fruit, and healthy items.

It'd be nice to live in a fantasy world where one can eat only junk food, but there are many ways to make healthy food tasty as well, and I quickly learned to eat vegetables and fruit as intended.

There IS a parental aspect being ignored.



2. Two or three years ago we have some H1B people move in. I'm sure they were freely laughing at overweight Americans. To be succinct, they aren't laughing as much anymore, because whatever they're eating, they've got some great gut growth as well. :(

Maybe it's some of the processing chemicals.

Maybe it's lack of exercise.

Mom drinks aspartame substances all the time and doesn't seem affected.

I used to drink it all the time, then read up on cancer and other issues and quit cold turkey - ironically, I lose 15 pounds by simply cutting that proverbial rat poison out of my diet.

I have something of a belly despite my age (medication for misdiagnoses, and surgeries, did more to accelerate it, but I won't deny bad diet choices in the past contributed to it either, and I've changed since then since I do not want it getting bigger and am doing what I can in the exercise department as well.) But no child should have a gut the size of mine to be sure. It's dangerous, it's unhealthy, and it's stupid. And at least children have a choice in the way some adults no longer can. Especially if they have parents and schools that educate. Some parents aren't, and some schools might be ineffective.

[omnibus66]

It's the lifestyle, and changing it is probably not going to happen. Eating fast food and only exercising your fingers is a recipe for poor health. Those afflicted will die young, and maybe the next generation will take note. Possible but doubtful.

[Lerianis4]

No, it is not the lifestyle. I personally know people who exercise little, eat whatever they want, and are thin.

I also know people who do the exact opposite of that who are obese.

What is the difference? G E N E T I C S! What does that spell? GENETICS, YEAH! Bottom lining it here, that is why most people are fat. They are genetically predisposed to it.

[samcpark]

Lerianis4 is full of half truths. Giving a couple of examples is completely ignoring the macro trend that obesity level has been increasing as food intake by Americans through larger portion sizes and the convenience of pre-packaged, calorie intensive foods filled with chemicals and presevatives have overtake America.


Countries in Asia that have taken up a more American diet, such as South Korea and China are also becoming more obese.

Genetics play a role, but the macro results are in, America is getting sicker and it is NOT BECAUSE PEOPLE GENETIC DISPOSITIONS have changed in the last 20 years, that is plain stupidity.

[amerilatino]

Although I was born in NYC, I spent the greater part of my adolescence and young childhood in Puerto Rico where a culture of spending time active and outdoors still persists today, I recall a childhood full of baseball, basketball and long bike rides in the tropical sun, not to mention whole seasons spent at the beach. Although we were by no means rich, there was never a dearth of just-prepared homestyle cooking or fresh fruit whenever we were hungry, either. When I see school principals in the U.S. rush the kids inside from recess or P.E. whenever the thermometer hits 95 out of fear that they will get heart attacks or strokes, or feed them the pre-packaged, gruellike mung that passes for food in the lunchrooms, I feel inwardly sorry for them, seeing the culture of dishabilitation and poor quality of life that they are inheriting and I wonder, if indeed, this will continue to be a first-world country.

[Lerianis4]

Well, we CAN'T let the kids outdoors... some base peedophile might ge them!

Seriously, I have heard the above as the reason why so many parents won't let their children out of their homes.

[livewires250]

I couldn't agree more with the comments made. The old saying " we are what we eat" applies to today, more than ever. if we take junk in, we are going to become unhealthy. if we take good things in, along with proper exercise, we will be healthy. Today's society is hooked up on fast food, sedentary lifestyles, and in my opinion is contributing to the sickness industry,versus the wellness industry. if we are not proactive with our health now, we are going to pay for it later. Too many of the processed foods, and oh yes, HFCS is causing more damage than high cholesterol because of the mico particles it leaves behind in our blood stream. The fruit and veggies in the store are not ripe when they are picked,grown in chemicals, are therefore mostly void of nutrition desperately needed by our bodies. Antioxidants are desperately lacking,causing cell damage. Whole fruits and vegetables, unprocessed meats, low sodium, and I would recommend a product called MonaVie RVL for complete nutrition, stabilize the blood sugar,and gain your health back.

[hypnotoad72]

Society has lots of problems, of which poor environment, food preparation, poor zoning, and plenty of other issues all play a part... The scope of the issue transcends this article and all responses within...

[skitbit]

It's not hard to figure out - children of today are just not getting enough exercise and when they act out, they're getting diagnosed as hyperactive and dosed with drugs. Time to set limits on staring at screens of ANY kind.