Overweight and younger!

More overweight and obese teenagers is the finding in a recent US study of youths aged 12-19 years.  This study, published in the journal Pediatrics, analyzed data from over 3000 teenagers and compared 1999 to 2008.  They found that in that 10 year period that Type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes increased from 9% to 23%.  An increase of 2.5x in just 10 years is "shockingly high" according to Dr. David Ludwig, a childhood obesity expert at Chirldren's Hospital in Boston.  The obesity epidemic has lead to an epidemic of Type 2 diabetes in teenagers.


Not only do we need to work on this from the standpoint of diabetes-related risks, like kidney failure, heart attacks, strokes and blindness, but as we have seen in this blog, cancer.


For more information http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/projects/cda2.htm.


The American Diabetes Association http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/prevention/?loc=DropDownDB-prevention recommends:

• choose a variety of lean meats, fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grains and non-fat dairy products
• limit portion size
• avoid too much of the same food type
• eat meals regularly throughout the day
• don't skip meals

And, of course, DAILY EXERCISE!!!

We can set an example for these teenagers and have fewer cancers by doing all these things.

Together we can prevent 75,000 breast cancer cases each year!

This medical content is information and not personal medical advice.