Number of American Kids To Be Affected by Diabetes Could Rise Drastically By 2050

A prediction by the U.S. government states that if the diabetes trend in the U.S. continues the way it is, there could be a drastic rise in the number of children affected by this disease

Taking account the unhealthy eating habits of youngsters in the U.S., the government predicts dire consequences. According to a prediction from a study recently conducted, the government warns that by 2050 the country could see the number of children affected by type 2 diabetes rise by 49 percent and rates of type 1 diabetes increase by 23 percent.

"These numbers are very important," said study lead author Dr. Giuseppina Imperatore, of the CDC's division of diabetes translation in a report published in Medical Xpress. "As a society, we will need to plan and prepare for the high-quality care of these children."

In type 1 diabetes the body stops producing insulin and the person needs to undergo insulin therapy and survives with the artificial production of insulin. This type of diabetes is more common in the earlier stages of life where as type 2 diabetes is more common later where a patient may not have to undergo insulin therapy.

"With type 1 diabetes, we still don't know how to prevent it," Imperatore said. "But for type 2 diabetes, there is a great deal of research in adults that shows increasing activity and losing weight can help prevent [it]. Now we need more research to see if this is also the case for children at risk of type 2 diabetes."

The December issue of the journal Diabetes Care contains detailed results of the study.

"We need to recognize the genetic components of both types of diabetes, and understand who is at risk," said Dr. Robert Ratner, chief scientific and medical officer for the American Diabetes Association. "The obesity epidemic isn't due to sloth and gluttony. It's an interaction between biology and the environment.

"We need to think as a society that diabetes is a public health issue that must be addressed. In the last century, we've dealt with things like sanitation and clean water as public health issues. Well, the current epidemic of diabetes and the potential growth is a public health risk that we need to address. Even staying where we are is unsustainable.

"We've been able to substantially drop the incidence of end-stage renal disease, blindness and amputations due to diabetes. But those gains will be swamped by the increasing numbers of people with diabetes. The health care system isn't going to be able to care for the number of people with diabetes, regardless of all the advances we've made in treatment and complications. The simple numbers will be overwhelming."

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