Big Health Problems to Worry About!
Type 2 Diabetes
- Type 2 diabetes is up 90% in this country since 1997 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Obesity, the CDC says, is the major risk factor for diabetes.
- The figures CDC gives us may in fact be an underestimate because the numbers come from self-reported surveys conducted by the CDC in 1995-1997 and in 2005-2007. About a third of people with diabetes don't yet know they have the dangerous disease.
- Diabetes experts said the findings show there is no end in sight to the diabetes epidemic.
- Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of diabetes, is closely linked to obesity and has become increasingly common in recent decades as more people become obese.
- An estimated 90-95 percent of the new cases are type 2 diabetes as opposed to type 1 diabetes, also called juvenile diabetes.
Experts Say...
Diabetes
Experts say that losing even modest amounts of weight and getting more physical exercise can help prevent diabetes but many people are not taking these steps. (Based on news reports from: Daniel J. DeNoon, WebMD Health News, Oct 30, 2008 and Will Dunham, Reuters, Oct 30, 2008)
Cholesterol Issues
In addition to concerns about diabetes, the nation’s pediatricians are now recommending wider cholesterol screening for children and more aggressive use of cholesterol-lowering drugs starting as early as the age of 8 in hopes of preventing adult heart problems.
Heart Disease
While there is bound to be debate about this aggressive approach to cholesterol issues in children, proponents of this approach following the guidelines issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics in July 2008 say there is growing evidence that the first signs of heart disease show up in childhood, and with 30 percent of the nation’s children overweight or obese, many doctors fear that a rash of early heart attacks and diabetes is on the horizon as these children grow up.
(Based on a report by Tara Parker-Pope, New York Times, July 7, 2008)
Additional Information
Also visit the American Diabetes Association for more information including ideas about nutrition and recipes:
https://www.diabetes.org/healthy-living/recipes-nutrition
We would also encourage you to visit the Washington Post website to meet the President and CEO of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and others who talk not only about the problems facing our country but also how they personally are coping.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/health/childhoodobesity/profiles/
Experts say that losing even modest amounts of weight and getting more physical exercise can help prevent diabetes but many people are not taking these steps. (Based on news reports from: Daniel J. DeNoon, WebMD Health News, Oct 30, 2008 and Will Dunham, Reuters, Oct 30, 2008)
Cholesterol Issues
In addition to concerns about diabetes, the nation’s pediatricians are now recommending wider cholesterol screening for children and more aggressive use of cholesterol-lowering drugs starting as early as the age of 8 in hopes of preventing adult heart problems.
Heart Disease
While there is bound to be debate about this aggressive approach to cholesterol issues in children, proponents of this approach following the guidelines issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics in July 2008 say there is growing evidence that the first signs of heart disease show up in childhood, and with 30 percent of the nation’s children overweight or obese, many doctors fear that a rash of early heart attacks and diabetes is on the horizon as these children grow up.
(Based on a report by Tara Parker-Pope, New York Times, July 7, 2008)
Additional Information
Also visit the American Diabetes Association for more information including ideas about nutrition and recipes:
https://www.diabetes.org/healthy-living/recipes-nutrition
We would also encourage you to visit the Washington Post website to meet the President and CEO of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and others who talk not only about the problems facing our country but also how they personally are coping.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/health/childhoodobesity/profiles/