Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes in Childhood
Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes in Childhood
Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus is increasing every year to the extent that it has become a global epidemic. Diabetes UK report that globally form 1975 to 2010 it was estimated to treble from 70 million to 220 million and in the UK it was estimated that from 1980 to 2010 it would almost quadruple from 800,000 to 3 million (Diabetes UK 2004). A 2006 review by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated that if the present trends continue, by 2025 the global prevalence of type 2 diabetes will reach the staggering number of 300 million especially among nations in the tropical pacific islands and among Asian Indians, Chinese and indigenous Australians, Hispanic Americans and African Americans. This rise is mirrored by the rise in the number of people who are abdominally obese. (Diamond 2003 cited by Beckwith 2010)
In the UK in 2009 it was reported that 67%of men and 56% of women were overweight or obese (Beckwith 2010) and this can have a direct bearing in childhood obesity as “childhood obesity is closely linked to parental overweight. The risk of becoming obese in adulthood for a 7 year old boy is 71% if the parents are obese. Thus to avoid paediatric type 2 diabetes interventions must start at pre-school age and involve the whole family (Aschemeier et al 2008). Children of successive generations seem destined to be fatter and sicker than their parents, with paediatric obesity shortening life expectancy in the US by 2-5 years by mid century – an effect equal to that of all cancers combined. (Ludwig 2007). Current data would suggest that 13.9% of children in England are obese and this shows no signs of improving.
The increasing rate of childhood obesity across the world has been described as the epidemic of the 21st Century. Factors such as changing dietary habits and the increase in sedentary lifestyles have added to the problem of childhood. The American centre for disease control defines being overweight in
Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus is increasing every year to the extent that it has become a global epidemic. Diabetes UK report that globally form 1975 to 2010 it was estimated to treble from 70 million to 220 million and in the UK it was estimated that from 1980 to 2010 it would almost quadruple from 800,000 to 3 million (Diabetes UK 2004). A 2006 review by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated that if the present trends continue, by 2025 the global prevalence of type 2 diabetes will reach the staggering number of 300 million especially among nations in the tropical pacific islands and among Asian Indians, Chinese and indigenous Australians, Hispanic Americans and African Americans. This rise is mirrored by the rise in the number of people who are abdominally obese. (Diamond 2003 cited by Beckwith 2010)
In the UK in 2009 it was reported that 67%of men and 56% of women were overweight or obese (Beckwith 2010) and this can have a direct bearing in childhood obesity as “childhood obesity is closely linked to parental overweight. The risk of becoming obese in adulthood for a 7 year old boy is 71% if the parents are obese. Thus to avoid paediatric type 2 diabetes interventions must start at pre-school age and involve the whole family (Aschemeier et al 2008). Children of successive generations seem destined to be fatter and sicker than their parents, with paediatric obesity shortening life expectancy in the US by 2-5 years by mid century – an effect equal to that of all cancers combined. (Ludwig 2007). Current data would suggest that 13.9% of children in England are obese and this shows no signs of improving.
The increasing rate of childhood obesity across the world has been described as the epidemic of the 21st Century. Factors such as changing dietary habits and the increase in sedentary lifestyles have added to the problem of childhood. The American centre for disease control defines being overweight in