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Experts Offer Grim Outlook for Diabetes: Valley Children Face High Rate, Lack of Care.

Posted on: Saturday, 25 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By Barbara Anderson, The Fresno Bee, Calif.

Mar. 25--Diabetes experts had some grim news for health professionals gathered this week in Fresno: An estimated one out of every three babies born nationwide in 2000 can expect to develop the chronic disease in their lifetime.

One reason for the diabetes epidemic is that about 30% of children are overweight or obese, increasing their health risk.

"It is no longer a shock for me or my colleagues to see a 300- pound child; it's not even a shock to see a 400-pound child," said Dr. Francine Kaufman, author of the book, "Diabesity," and a pediatric endocrinologist at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

Unless health-care workers unite to fight diabetes, more children will have their lives impacted by the disease, Kaufman said.

"Diabetes is going to touch every American unless we work together," she said Thursday at "Diabetes: Crisis in the Central Valley," a two-day conference that ended Friday at Pardini's Restaurant in Fresno.

Those attending the conference learned a growing diabetic population in the Valley and a shortage of doctors and other health-care providers to treat them makes it even more important for health professionals to work together.

Diabetes is a public health emergency, said Ann Albright, chief of the California Diabetes Program. Albright also spoke at the conference organized by the Central Valley Chronic Disease Partnership. The partnership is an organization working to unite health-care providers and community leaders to improve the health of Valley residents.

About 7% of California's population -- about 2 million people -- have diabetes. But for every two people diagnosed, there is another who has the disease and doesn't know it, Albright said.

The problem is worse in the central San Joaquin Valley, she said.

Diabetes affects as many as 10.4% of adults in Tulare County. Other Valley counties also struggle with high numbers -- 8.2% of adults in Kings County have diabetes. In Fresno and Merced counties, 7.2% have the disease, and 6.7% are diabetic in Madera County, according to the state Diabetes Information Resource Center.

The challenge is how to work together to prevent diabetes, Albright said.

In the Valley, one of the challenges is a scarcity of doctors, nurses, health educators and nutritionists to fight the disease, she said.

Another problem: The rural nature of many communities in the Valley, where fewer doctors practice and where fewer opportunities exist to attend nutrition education or physical fitness classes.

Two full-time California Diabetes Program workers are assigned to the Valley to offer assistance to doctors and other health professionals, she said in an interview at the conference. Other areas of the state have only one diabetes field worker, she said. "We felt very strongly more support was needed in this area."

Dr. Phyllis Preciado, a Fresno primary-care doctor with an interest in diabetes prevention, said doctors alone cannot stop the increase in the disease.

Preciado said it will take a team of medical professionals to prevent diabetes and to help those who are diagnosed manage their condition.

"In the central San Joaquin Valley in the next 10 to 15 years, if we don't work together, we have the potential for losing our next generation," she said.

Kaufman said diet and physical activity are the keys to turning around an obesity epidemic that is fueling the spike in diabetes among children and adults.

Fast-food meals are not the only villain, she said. Children as young as 5 have televisions in their bedrooms. And children see 40,000 TV messages a year about junk food and sweetened cereals.

Diabetes is only one reason to fight childhood obesity, Kaufman said. Obesity increases risks for developing other illnesses earlier in life, including cardiovascular disease.

The implications are frightening for those children who are obese today, she said. "In their 30s, could they already have had their first stroke or heart attack? We don't know if this is what we're looking at."

But there is hope, Kaufman said. Something as simple as a soda-free diet and brisk 30- minute walks, five days a week can make a difference. A modest weight loss (5% to 10% of body weight) reduces the risk of developing diabetes, she said.

"It's all about taking some small steps -- making small changes for getting big rewards," she said.

"I think we all want to look at the next generation and not think that one of three of them will get diabetes in their lifetime."

The reporter can be reached at banderson@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6310.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Fresno Bee, Calif.

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Source: The Fresno Bee

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