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Huge Increase in Children With 'Middle-Age' Diabetes

Posted on: Wednesday, 18 January 2006, 12:00 CST

By Judith Duffy Health Correspondent

DOCTORS have discovered a dramatic increase in the number of children suffering from diabetes brought on by obesity. A decade ago, Type 2 diabetes - which is usually found in the middleaged and can lead to blindness and kidney failure - was unheard of in children.

But a new study has shown that more than 80 overweight British children were diagnosed with "diabesity" last year alone. Previous figures had suggested only 100 cases in total had been identified across the UK.

The research has serious implications for Scotland, where the number of children who are dangerously overweight is twice that in the rest of the UK.

Doctors and campaigners yesterday expressed their concern about the "worrying trend" and demanded that the Scottish Executive does more to promote a healthy diet to young people and families.

The new survey, carried out by the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, examined reports of diagnoses of non-Type 1 diabetes in under-16s from October 2004 to October 2005.

Type 1 diabetes, which is not linked to obesity, is the most common form of the disease among children.

Researcher Dr Julian HamiltonShield, senior lecturer at the University of Bristol and Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, said obesity-related diabetes was likely to become more common in adolescents, resulting in significant implications for both individuals and the health service.

"It would appear that diabetesrelated complications in eyes, kidneys, etc, are more aggressive and occur more frequently in Type 2 diabetes developing in early life when compared to Type 1 diabetes, classically seen in childhood, " he said.

"If Type 2 diabetes-associated blindness, limb amputations and haemodialysis occur earlier in adult life due to children getting the condition, it will put an increasing economic burden on the health service."

According to the charity Diabetes UK, treating complications of all types of diabetes already costs the NHS an estimated pounds-5 billion a year.

The new study is particularly concerning for Scotland. Figures published last month revealed that one in five Scottish children aged 11 to 12 years old was obese in the 2004/2005 school year. The Scottish Executive is trying to tackle the problem of obesity through initiatives such as nutritional standards for school meals, improving access to physical education and plans to remove fizzy drinks from schools.

Deputy health minister Lewis Macdonald said the best long-term approach to tackle weight problems and Type 2 diabetes was prevention, especially in childhood.

He added: "Scotland is not alone in experiencing a rapid rise in obesity in the last two decades - all developed countries are experiencing a similar trend, but we do want to be at the forefront of tackling it.

"This requires action by government and its partners, but also requires individuals and families to take personal responsibility for their actions."

But last night doctors and politicians said that the Scottish Executive was not going far enough.

Dr Sarah Taylor, a member of the British Medical Association Scotland's Public Health Committee, said: "Rather than having canteens full of cola, crisps and chips, schools should work to promote healthy eating to children.

"But most importantly, we should educate children and their parents on how to adopt a healthy diet so that children can make the right choices outside the school gates."

Scottish Socialist Party MSP Frances Curran, who is steering a free school meals bill through Holyrood, accused the Executive of being content to "tinker at the edges of the problem".

"There is no shortage of evidence of the health risk to our children from poor dietary habits, " she said. "The reality is that there needs to be a revolution in the type of food we feed our children.

"Free, universal school meals with statutory nutritional levels would be just such a revolution, and would lay the foundations for a huge improvement in the health of all Scots as they took good eating habits into adult life."

NEED TO KNOW

THE FACTS A new study has found that more than 80 children in the UK were diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes last year, a condition which is linked to obesity and being overweight.

BACKGROUND Diabetes is a condition in which too much glucose is present in the blood, either due to a lack of the hormone insulin or because the insulin that is produced does not work properly. If uncontrolled, it can lead to serious health problems, including heart disease, strokes, high blood pressure, nerve damage and damage to the kidneys and eyes.

NEED TO KNOW MORE?

www. diabetes. org. uk Website of charity Diabetes UK

http: //bpsu. inopsu. com Information on the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit

Source: Sunday Herald

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