A time-bomb waiting to explode

Public health specialists are alarmed at a new trend – the incidence of obesity-induced diabetes in young people.

The discovery of four cases of adult-onset or type 2 diabetes in young teenage children in Bristol, United Kingdom, has the British medical profession alarmed, due to the fact that this type of diabetes is extremely rare in young people. It normally appears after the age of 40 and is due to bad diet and not enough exercise.

In type 2 diabetes, the body produces insulin but does not react to it. This form is traditionally linked to ethnic groups. It is extremely rare among Eskimos but almost one third of those living on pacific island of Nauru and is prevalent among the Pima tribe of North American Indians. The children involved are from none of these groups, which leads scientists to believe that they contracted type 2 diabetes from a bad diet.

Studies elsewhere in Europe have the medical profession alarmed. Jorn Nerup, a Danish expert and President of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, said that “Diabetes is like a time-bomb ticking away and waiting to explode. The Association calculates that by 2010, 270 million people around the world will suffer from this disease,

While mild forms of type 2 diabetes can be treated by eating a healthy diet, complications can occur and these are more likely in cases which started at an early age. The longer the period of suffering, the more probable are the chances of complications. These can include blindness, heart disease, high blood pressure, arterial weakness and body ulcers which become infected, leading to the amputation of limbs.

Like a growing number of teenagers, the four in question in the UK were severely overweight. A diet based on junk food, high in fat and a lack of exercise is the cause. Tired parents may find it easier to send their children to buy a burger or a hot dog, order a pizza or put a pre-cooked meal in the microwave, and may not feel they have the energy to argue about the choice of a plate of soup, fresh salad or vegetables for dinner but the fact is that diabetes is spreading and it is affecting an ever younger population extract.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru

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