Very alarming news...25% of teenagers are diabetic

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CindiBryce
CindiBryce Posts: 438
in Health and Weight Loss
What, in your opinion, can be done to change the statistic? More FDA regulations? Discuss!
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  • BigDaddyBRC
    BigDaddyBRC Posts: 2,395 Member
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    Slapping the ignorance out of parents.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,695 Member
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    Who is providing the source for this? I'd like to know so I can have a legitimate smack down on parents who allow it.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer/Group Fitness Instructor
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • Audddua
    Audddua Posts: 176 Member
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    Ugh that's such a depressing statistic! I think a lot of different things need to be done in order to change that issue. Education is key. Most of these kids are raised by parents that are just as unhealthy so they need to learn healthy eating habits from someone or somewhere else. Healthier meals options at school (and yes I'm such a fascist that I think fries/burgers/pizza/etc should be banned from school since most of them get enough at home). More gym time (LOL my 16 year old self would so strongly disagree with this but oh well).

    I do think some regulations would help. All of these unhealthy kids are raising my health insurance premiums. That isn't fair to me. However, I don't think regulation alone can solve this complex issue.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    *American* teenagers presumably ?
  • CindiBryce
    CindiBryce Posts: 438
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    http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/diabetes-on-the-rise-among-teenagers/
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
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    A higher focus on physical skills - i.e. Sports, DIY. Academic study is all well and good, but too many people shy away from exerting themselves or getting their hands dirty.
  • VenomousDuck
    VenomousDuck Posts: 206
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    I was diabetic.

    I kicked it's *kitten*.

    it can be done, once parents become parents again and not their kid's friend.

    feed them nutritious food
    they will eat it if they are hungry.

    I had a bad run in last night with a fat family of slobs. The mother pointed at the fat son and said "He won't eat nuthin green" I said becasue you never fed him a vegetable.

    The fat daughter who is also pregnant sat there and ate a medium pizza, bread sticks, 2 packs of reese's cups (king size), 4 indv bags of chips and gallons of soda. Looks at me and said "I have an excuse, I'm pregnant". I said with what? A garbage truck?

    they talked non stop about food. One breath that they had not eaten all day. Next breath all about breakfast they ate and donut holes and candy... It was like watching 2 channels at once. I was going insane.

    They are related to people I know. The people I know are great. they hate these others, but we were at a hospital (long story)... I left and went for a run to get away. I am fat, sure. But I am making the effort. These people blame everyone else.
  • CindiBryce
    CindiBryce Posts: 438
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    The fat daughter who is also pregnant sat there and ate a medium pizza, bread sticks, 2 packs of reese's cups (king size), 4 indv bags of chips and gallons of soda. Looks at me and said "I have an excuse, I'm pregnant". I said with what? A garbage truck?
    It is detrimental to the baby if she is going to stuff herself with unhealthy food! I agree...people are lazy and will come up with excuses to continue eating unhealthily.
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
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    Ugh that's such a depressing statistic! I think a lot of different things need to be done in order to change that issue. Education is key. Most of these kids are raised by parents that are just as unhealthy so they need to learn healthy eating habits from someone or somewhere else. Healthier meals options at school (and yes I'm such a fascist that I think fries/burgers/pizza/etc should be banned from school since most of them get enough at home). More gym time (LOL my 16 year old self would so strongly disagree with this but oh well).

    I do think some regulations would help. All of these unhealthy kids are raising my health insurance premiums. That isn't fair to me. However, I don't think regulation alone can solve this complex issue.

    There's a limit to how far you can go with requiring healthy food at schools before all that you're doing is encouraging a black market of chips and candy bars.

    There's also the issues Chicago's been running into with their healthy lunch program, where (last time I looked) they're forbidden to add ANY salt whatsoever, but processed food is still okay. One of the cooks was quoted as saying "I could make the vegetables taste good with 200mg of sodium, but I have to use 0, and they throw out the veggies and eat the chicken patty with 1100mg." This has to be sub-optimal.

    Please note that I'm NOT against healthier food in schools, especially food served BY the school. What I am for, though, is more moderate changes. IOW, doing healthier versions or smaller portions of foods that most kids eat rather than going for lentil salad will probably have better results. If you go too far for food to which they're unaccustomed, they'll just go hungry until they get home and then eat the same food there.
  • crzyone
    crzyone Posts: 872 Member
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    Actually, that blog said teenagers are "on the verge" or "at risk" not that 25 per cent ARE diabetic.......
  • roachhaley
    roachhaley Posts: 978 Member
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    I dont believe that statistic is correct. May be heading towards diabetes, maybe, but not diabetic. I'm a teenager and only know two diabetic people, and they're type one, which doesn't have anything to do with weight (i think).

    Also, we don't need more regulations. I dont want someone trying to control what I eat, even if it is for my well being.
  • skinnylion
    skinnylion Posts: 213
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    I'm pretty sure that statistic should be changed to "PRE-diabetic"... but even then it's a stretch. And you should probably include that they're American teenagers. The Poor Starving People of Africa would most definitely skew that statistic if we were talking a global percentage...
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    From the article.
    Nearly one in four American adolescents may be on the verge of developing Type 2 diabetes or could already be diabetic, representing a sharp increase in the disease’s prevalence among children ages 12 to 19 since a decade ago, when it was estimated that fewer than one in 10 were at risk for or had diabetes, according to a new study.
    Researchers said the data should be interpreted with caution because the prediabetes and diabetes status of the adolescents was based on a single test of each participant’s fasting blood glucose level, which could be unreliable in children if they had not fasted for at least 8 hours before taking the test. In addition, children this age are going through puberty, a process that induces insulin resistance.

    Lots of maybes in there, sounds like lots of sensationalizing about nothing.
  • jesska812
    jesska812 Posts: 102 Member
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    Does that statistic include both type 1 and type 2? As a type 1 myself I realise there would only be a small proportion of type 1's and the majority will always be related to lifestyle factors but even that 5% (my dodgy estimate) of teens dealing with type 1 diabetes shouldn't be lumped in with all the type 2 diabetes statistics being pushed at everyone.

    Edit: sorry I didn't see the quote from the actual source above until after I posted this. I'm very glad it specified type 2.
  • awalters46103
    awalters46103 Posts: 5
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    Slapping the ignorance out of parents.

    I'm type 1 diabetic and just wanted to say that no amount of slapping to my parents could have prevented my disease. It makes my exercise and diet very very difficult!
  • hedgiie
    hedgiie Posts: 1,245 Member
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    i'm a father of a 11 years old, i notice that he watch his diet but still prefer to eat quite a high amount of sugar
  • kzooprincess
    kzooprincess Posts: 232 Member
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    I do think some regulations would help. All of these unhealthy kids are raising my health insurance premiums. That isn't fair to me. However, I don't think regulation alone can solve this complex issue.

    I work for a health insurance company and in the last week have seen the medical records of two of these kids. One last week was 10 years old and weighs 45 lbs more than my 14 yr-old did at his sports physical last month. This kid also had high triglycerides. The other one I just saw today. A 16 yr old whose LDL number is double what mine was when I had the blood work had done in February and I'm 35! What exactly do you have to eat to gain 20 lbs in less than 6 months?
  • goldfinger88
    goldfinger88 Posts: 686 Member
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    Make sure the kids maintain a normal weight by eating a low carb diet. Also, those who can (I know not all can) should eat organic, clean foods.
  • cyclerjenn
    cyclerjenn Posts: 835 Member
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    Ugh that's such a depressing statistic! I think a lot of different things need to be done in order to change that issue. Education is key. Most of these kids are raised by parents that are just as unhealthy so they need to learn healthy eating habits from someone or somewhere else. Healthier meals options at school (and yes I'm such a fascist that I think fries/burgers/pizza/etc should be banned from school since most of them get enough at home). More gym time (LOL my 16 year old self would so strongly disagree with this but oh well).

    I do think some regulations would help. All of these unhealthy kids are raising my health insurance premiums. That isn't fair to me. However, I don't think regulation alone can solve this complex issue.

    I agree. My son comes home from school every days complaining of the unhealthy food chose that he is given for his school lunch. They also removed Physical Education from the program after 7th grade. He have chosen to stay in PE as an elective, but it is every other day not every day.

    But parents need to teach there kids the importance of eating right and working out. I see my friends just getting fast food for there kids and using the excuse, it just easier. I have friends that talk about losing weight, but always have an excuse why it just can't happen for them.

    American have become lazy and that is where we need to start if we are going to stop this from really happening.
  • Bentley2718
    Bentley2718 Posts: 1,690 Member
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    The first line of the article says "Nearly one in four American adolescents may be on the verge of developing Type 2 diabetes or could already be diabetic." "May be on the verge of developing..." and "prediabetic" (a term used later in the article, which is not entirely without controversy in the medical community) is not the same as actually being diabetic. It sounds knit-picky I know, but the popular media has this nasty habit of taking carefully done, carefully worded scientific findings and turning them into overly-alarmist factoids to sell stories. Moreover, the article goes on to state "Researchers said the data should be interpreted with caution because the prediabetes and diabetes status of the adolescents was based on a single test of each participant’s fasting blood glucose level, which could be unreliable in children if they had not fasted for at least 8 hours before taking the test. In addition, children this age are going through puberty, a process that induces insulin resistance." In other words, there is potentially a lot of error in these findings--so take them with a grain of salt.

    As for FDA, and other government regulations, certain regulations might be helpful, but poorly planned interventions of all varieties can do more harm than good. Before implementing anything, we probably need to think carefully about what is worth trying, and what is not.

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