TYPE 2 DIABETES AND YOUR CHILD

One of the distressing things about 

Type 2 diabetes

 in young people is that it so quickly leads to serious complications, even more so than Type 1. Because of this, it is essential that we recognize the warning signs leading to diabetes at the earliest stage possible and intervene swiftly.
One recent Swedish study of kidney disease in young people with diabetes was especially chilling. The study looked at 469 people who were diagnosed with diabetes between the ages of 15 and 34. Of the group, most had Type 1; only 43 had Type 2. Over a nine-year period, 5.6 percent of the people with Type 2 diabetes developed kidney disease.
Another study of the same group of patients showed a similar situation with diabetic retinopathy (an eye disease that can lead to blindness). Fifteen Percent of the people with

Type 2 diabetes

had severe retinopathy,while only five percent of the people with Type 1 had retinopathy, and most of those with Type 1 had a milder form.
Both these studies show how dire the consequences of Type 2 diabetes are when it occurs in young people. In most cases of chronic disease, being young provides some protection. Overall, in cases of early-onset Type 2 diabetes, this protection is simply lost. Compared with people who developed diabetes in later middle age, young people with diabetes are 80 percent more likely to end up needing insulin.
The risk of a heart attack is also much higher. Older adults with diabetes have just under four times the risk of having a heart attack as someone their age without diabetes; young people with diabetes have 14 times the risk of having a heart attack as someone their age without diabetes.
The complications don't stop there. A long-term follow-up study of First Nations (native Canadians) children looked at a group of 51 patients who were diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 1986; at the time, all were under age 17.
When they were contacted 15 years later, two had died while on kidney dialysis, three were currently on dialysis (one of them had become blind), and another had had a toe amputation. Of 56 pregnancies among the patients, only 35 resulted in live births.
Kids with Type 2 diabetes often end up taking the sorts of medications we usually associate with older adults. It's not uncommon to find 15-year-olds taking metformin (Glucophage) for their blood sugar, along with one or more drugs for high blood pressure and a statin drug for high cholesterol. Diet, exercise  and supplements (if needed) may preclude the use of medications. Life style changes are always a better approach.

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TYPE 1 AND TYPE 2 DIABETES

Type 1 diabetes, sometimes called juvenile diabetes is a condition whereby blood sugar levels are above the normal range, this happens when the body is no longer producing the hormone insulin, which carries glucose into your cells where it can be converted into energy. In type 1 diabetes, the cells of the pancreas stops producing the hormone insulin, which is necessary for moving glucose into the cells, where it is burned for energy.

Type 1 diabetes
sometimes starts in childhood,

people with this form of diabetes require lifelong insulin administration and careful dietary management to survive. Recently, it has been reported that stem-cell transplants have been successful in curing this disease. Type 1 diabetes accounts for about 5 to 10 percent of all cases of diabetes. The cause of this disease is in most cases an autoimmune disease in which the body mistakenly attacks and destroys the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. Type 1 diabetes usually strikes very suddenly-the person may appear fine one day and be sick the next day.
95% of the people with diabetes have type 2, a disease quite different from type 1. In the cases of the type 2 diabetes, the individual still makes insulin, in fact, he or she may have a huge amount of it-but the cells respond more slowly to its presence. This slowed response is called insulin
resistance.
Type 2 diabetes was primarily a problem for older adults. It was very rare for children and people in their twenties or even thirties to have type 2 diabetes,today even children being diagnosed with this disease. The major cause of this recent development are obesity, a sedentary lifestyle and a high carbohydrate diet.Kids with this disease are more likely also to have a family history of the disease. Dr Robert Atkins in his book "ATKINS DIABETES REVOLUTION" discussed how type 1 and type 2 diabetes can be prevented and treated through diet and lifestyle changes.

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