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Juvenile Diabetes
Recognizing the Signs and Getting Help
By Teri Brown
Unfortunately, as Americans get fatter, the incidence of type 2 diabetes in children has increased, too.
"The emerging epidemic of type 2 diabetes parallels increased prevalence of obesity in youth," Dr. Alemzadeh says. "It is commonly believed that in the presence of obesity and genetic predisposition [family history of type 2 diabetes], there is progressive loss beta-cell [insulin-secreting cells] function due to engorgement of these cells with lipid [fat]. This leads to impairment of pancreatic insulin secretion."
Type 2 diabetes is believed to be accelerated in children at the time of puberty. Experts are now calling type 2 diabetes among children an epidemic.
"This epidemic is very alarming since poorly controlled diabetic children are at risk of developing diabetes complications as early as in the second decade of life," Dr. Alemzadeh says.
Type 1 diabetes is both similar and different than type 2 diabetes. Gary Feit is the manager of public information for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International. He says type 1 diabetes can occur at any age but is most commonly diagnosed from infancy to the late 30s.
"In this type of diabetes, a person's pancreas produces little or no insulin," Feit says. "Although the causes are not entirely known, scientists believe the body's own defense system [the immune system] attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. People with type 1 diabetes must inject insulin several times every day."
Wile type 2 diabetes goes hand in hand with obesity, type 1 diabetes has a strong family connection. According to Feit, researchers are still trying to get a clear picture about how genes and environmental factors interact to determine a person's risk of developing type 1 diabetes. Forty percent of everyone in the United States carries one or more of the HLA genes that lead to increased risk of type 1 diabetes. To be at increased risk, however, an individual needs two copies of these genes, one from each parent.