Kids' Obesity May Lead to Epidemic of Adult Diabetes (HealthDay)

TUESDAY, July 8 (HealthDay News) -- The current childhood obesityepidemic in the United States may lead to large numbers of young adultsdeveloping type 2 diabetes in the future, along with seriousdiabetes-related health complications, warns a University of Michiganresearcher.

"The full impact of the childhood obesity epidemic has yet to be seen,because it can take up to 10 years or longer for obese individuals todevelop type 2 diabetes. Children who are obese today are more likely todevelop type 2 diabetes as young adults," Dr. Joyce Lee, a pediatricendocrinologist at the university's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, said ina prepared statement.

The longer a person has diabetes, the more likely he or she is todevelop serious complications such as kidney failure and blindness, Leenoted. That means that young adults with type 2 diabetes are much morelikely to develop such complications during their lifetime than olderpeople with the disease. She added that babies born to young women withtype 2 diabetes are at greater risk for obesity and type 2 diabetes.

"Recent studies suggest that there have been dramatic increases in type2 diabetes among individuals in their 20s and 30s, whereas it used to bethat individuals developed type 2 diabetes in their late 50s or 60s. Thismay be the first indication of a type 2 diabetes epidemic among youngadults who were obese during childhood," Lee said.

More needs to be done to fight childhood obesity, she urged in anarticle in the July issue of the journal Archives of Pediatric &Adolescent Medicine.

"Our society heavily invests in the treatment and management of chronicdiseases like type 2 diabetes for adults. But it spends very little forthe prevention and treatment of childhood obesity to stave off the onsetof type 2 diabetes," Lee said.

"If there isn't a significant investment in obesity prevention andtreatment during childhood within schools, communities, and the healthcare system, recent trends in childhood obesity will likely lead toincreases in type 2 diabetes among young adults, resulting in even greatercosts to society and the health care system."

Toward that end, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) on Mondayissued new cholesterol screening and treatment recommendations forchildren, including prescribing cholesterol-reducing drugs known asstatins for some 8-year-olds.

The group also urged screening for young patients whose family historyis unknown or those who have other heart disease risk factors includingobesity, high blood pressure or diabetes. Screening, the AAP said, shouldtake place after age 2, but no later than age 10.

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